Begin by simply becoming aware of the sensations of breathing.
Just allow the breath to rise and fall and just notice the sensations.
How does it feel to breathe?
Do not try to force the breath in nor force the breath out.
Just allow the breath to rise and fall naturally in its own time,
In its own rhythm.
Just be aware of these sensations.
How does it actually feel to breathe?
For the duration of this meditation,
Any time you find that your mind has wandered,
You have become lost in a stream of thoughts.
Just gently return your attention back to the breath.
And there is nothing more complicated than that for this meditation.
Simply for the next eight minutes or so,
Just a sense of grounding your attention entirely with the breath,
Bringing your awareness entirely into the here and now.
You will find that thoughts continue to rise in the field of awareness.
Simply ignore them.
Just don't get involved with any thought that rises in the mind.
Instead,
Just refocus attention on the breath,
Allowing the breath to rise and fall.
And devote the entirety of your attention to the breath.
Simply treat thoughts as not interesting.
A sense of becoming indifferent to any of the thoughts that rise in the mind.
Instead,
Choosing just to focus on the breath,
Finding this deeper sense of peace in the now by refusing to follow thoughts.
Just let thoughts go,
Let them drift on by.
See if it's possible to be fully aware of the sensations of breathing,
But without any analysis.
There is no good breathing or bad breathing.
Just observe the breath as it is now.
And placing no visual image on the breath.
Just feel the breath raw,
Pure.
The simple physical sensations without analysis,
Image or interpretation.
Just observe what is.
From time to time,
You may notice that you have become lost in thinking again,
Stuck on trains of thought,
In narratives,
Imagined conversations.
This is okay.
This is the mind doing what it does out of habit.
But just for this time,
Disengage from any of that.
And do not be frustrated or stressed by this.
It is good to notice that you have become lost.
The moment you notice that you are lost in thoughts,
You have become present again.
So with an amused curiosity,
Simply return to the sensations of breathing.
And pay no further thought to where the mind just went.
It is not important.
Simply return to the breath.
Allow the breath to rise and fall.
Disengage from any thought,
Any image.
All is well.
As your attention remains on the breath,
Noticing there may be some more subtle thoughts,
Such as,
I understand,
But what about next?
What's the next part of this meditation?
That is simply another thought that we can discard.
There is no next.
There is no next moment.
Just as there is no next breath.
Just stay with the breath that is happening in the now.
Nothing more complicated.
Keeping it simple.
Open,
Empty awareness.
Filled only with the sensations of the breath.
Disengaged from all of the contents of the mind.
Just this.
Just this.
In a moment,
We will be leaving the formal aspect of the meditation.
But notice that the mind is waiting to jump back in and gain a hold of your attention once again.
Just recognize you do have the power to stay with the breath,
Even when outside of formal meditation.
Anytime you find you are lost in a chaotic stream of thoughts or uncomfortable or negative state of mind,
Just return to the breath.
And even one minute of doing this can be enormously powerful.
Thank you for taking part in this practice with me today.
Take care.
Be well.
And stay present.
