Hello,
And welcome to this mindfulness meditation practice.
To begin,
Find a comfortable seat with your back straight and shoulders loose.
Just find a position where you feel both relaxed and alert.
I invite you to close your eyes and drop your awareness into the body.
What sensations do you notice?
Perhaps you feel some soreness or tightness in the muscles.
Perhaps you notice your body temperature.
Just take a moment to sit with whatever comes up.
Now I invite you to listen to the sounds around you.
Just allow yourself to hear anything that emerges.
There is no need to identify or interpret the sounds.
Try to avoid judging if they are good or bad.
Simply listen with interest and curiosity,
Like you would to music.
You may notice that these sounds are impermanent.
They come and go,
Appear and disappear.
Simply allow this to be without trying to grasp or hold on to any sound.
As you focus on the soundscape around you,
Thoughts will naturally come and go.
Try not to push them away.
Doing so will just create tension.
Instead,
Listen to the thoughts the same way you were listening to the sounds.
Allow them to come and go,
And try not to judge them.
Now,
Just focusing on the sounds that are close by.
Now shift your focus to sounds that are far away in the distance.
Now I invite you to focus on your breath.
Take some deep breaths in with the nose,
And out with the mouth.
Follow your next inhale from the moment it enters your nose,
Until it fills your lungs.
And then briefly pause.
Notice the sense of fullness here.
Now follow the exhale from the lungs,
Until it is fully released out of the mouth.
Again,
Pause and feel.
Take a few more deep breaths just like this.
Allow yourself to breathe naturally again.
For the next few minutes,
Place your awareness wherever you feel the breath most clearly.
It could be at the tip of the nose,
The chest,
Or the belly.
Just rest your mind on the expansion and contraction of the breath.
As we draw this mindfulness practice to a close,
I have a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh.
With mindfulness,
You can establish yourself in the present,
In order to touch the wonders of life that are available in that moment.
Now start to invite some deeper breaths into the lungs.
And wriggle the fingers and toes.
And now you can gently open your eyes.
