Hello,
This meditation is for anyone who is really very new to this.
Maybe you have never meditated before or you've done it somehow as part of yoga,
But you're not quite sure.
You're interested in what is called mindfulness-based meditation,
Which is a way of bringing the awareness to our body moment by moment and to get to know what's going on inside and around us without judging it as being either good or bad,
Right or wrong.
The emphasis on the breath and on the body is because the body is always in real time.
It is happening now,
Moment by moment,
While our thoughts and the images that we have in our mind are about the future,
What might happen,
And they're about the past,
What did happen.
They're all very interesting and valuable in certain places and times,
But they're not about now,
What is going on really in your body at this moment.
Especially if you're considering meditation as part of managing or lowering your stress levels or your encountered sadness or loss or pain,
There's general confusion about how to cope with life's ups and downs.
Mindfulness meditation is the way to go.
Having said that,
And if you'd like to get a taste of it,
Please sit on a chair.
For now,
That's all that's needed.
Sit in a firm chair,
Not too comfortable,
So that your back and your upper body can be sitting upright,
Which allows for better breathing and also is a way of sitting with the intention to be present.
It's also better for the back,
Especially the lower back,
Which tends to hurt if we recline or are sitting hunched over.
Place your feet on the ground,
Flat on the ground,
And if you wish to kick off your shoes and socks,
By all means.
Close your eyes and place your hands,
If you haven't done so already,
Just somewhere where they can naturally rest.
Maybe on your lap,
On your knees or thighs,
It doesn't matter whether the palms are pointing up or down,
Whether the hands touch each other or not.
So let's just sit for a moment and do nothing.
Imagine someone is sitting and doing nothing but with a purpose.
And our purpose,
Your purpose,
If you follow this,
Is to just notice what is going on,
Moment by moment,
In your awareness.
This is not easy.
We're not used to doing this.
We do sit sometimes,
Relaxing,
But our mind is busy,
Busy,
Busy all the time.
There are stories and voices,
Fantasies,
Daydreams,
Facts and figures.
There are pictures,
Little movies running.
It's just how it is.
And so the principle thing to learn about mindfulness meditation is to accept that things are busy in the mind,
To acknowledge that I'm barely present,
That I'm always somewhere in my imagination,
Future,
Past or pure fantasy,
The conversations that I'm redoing that happened a long time ago,
The situations I would have handled differently,
The things that might happen tomorrow,
And then I imagine what might happen tomorrow,
And then my body responds to that.
But really,
The past is gone,
The future hasn't happened.
To bring awareness into the present moment,
There's a very simple way to do that.
Well,
It's simple to explain.
That is,
As you sit,
Feet on the ground,
Hands resting,
Eyes closed.
Now place one hand,
The palm of one hand,
Place it on what you might call the heart space,
Somewhere below the throat,
In the upper chest.
Just gently lay your hand there.
And take the other hand and place it,
Palm towards the body,
Gently on the upper belly,
Somewhere between where the rib cage ends and the belly button,
Somewhere between in the upper part of the belly.
And let them just rest there.
And bring your awareness,
Which it may already have gone there,
Just to the point of contact.
See how the hands,
If you move them slightly,
The hands are touching,
And they're being touched through clothing,
Skin,
With this body in this moment.
Just sit with that awareness,
Not to make anything off it,
Not to look for anything grand,
But to simply noticing this body in this moment.
You may also notice that the mind is taking off.
It's going every which way,
And that's why we sometimes call it the monkey mind.
It jumps from one branch to the other,
One thought to the next,
One sensation,
One distraction.
Where are my hands resting?
Can you feel,
Not imagine,
Not visualize,
But feel the contact between your hands,
Your fingertips,
The palm of your hand,
And your body.
You may notice the gradual rising and falling as the body breathes.
No special breathing needed here.
The body does this all by itself,
15,
16 times every minute,
A new breath.
What you're doing right now is to witness this body,
This breath,
Moment by moment,
Moment by moment,
Feeling your fingertips,
Your palms,
The weight of your hands resting.
In this activity,
There will have been brief moments,
Split seconds,
Where your mind was not wondering,
Where you were not worrying about something that might happen in the future,
Or something that happened yesterday,
Or even a minute ago.
In the moment when the awareness goes to the body,
The breath coming and the breath going,
In that moment,
You were present.
You were witnessing your very own life unfolding,
One breath at a time.
Let's do it for another half a minute,
And then I'll leave you,
And you wish to carry on.
We'll repeat the tape.
I'll leave it to you.
This is a wonderful practice,
Easily done.
You can do this.
Pick a time once a day to give yourself the luxury of 10 minutes,
And then just listen to this tape.
After a while,
You don't need it anymore.
We might go on to some of the other tapes that you find on this website.
Ten minutes up.
Thank you for joining,
May your life go well.
