Vipassana Guided Meditation

This meditation video was put together to give you a full cycle of the sensation to sensation practice very similar to what you are taught in Vipassana. Once you have become quite comfortable sitting and listening to the guidance after the first cycle, take a moment to pause the video and try and do another, unguided.

Transcript

Let's get ourselves comfortable.

And today's practices are about recognizing equanimity.

So recognizing a state that we can,

I don't want to call it a state,

But sort of the recognition that actually I can be with what I'm feeling and not get caught too much up in the dialogue of the thoughts.

The thoughts that want to tell you how bad it is,

How much pain that you're in and all the rest of it.

Now,

If you want to close your eyes for this practice,

You're very welcome to.

I'll have my eyes closed for most of the practice.

I'll be sort of guiding through as I do for myself.

What I do of normal Vipassana practice,

I'll go through,

Sort of do the body scan twice through,

Which is why it's going to be 30 minutes.

All right.

And all I'd invite you to do is just begin by bringing some attention into the body.

And let's start at the nose.

And so we're going to just be holding some of that attention around the nostrils,

Upper lip.

And just for the next two minutes,

We're just going to hold our attention there as best as we can do.

Apply some of that Samatha to how we are,

How your day has been.

Just softening the mind,

Even remembering thoughts,

Just thoughts.

And you're here for practice.

Until any time the mind wanders,

You're just recognizing thoughts,

Just coming back gently,

Back to the nose,

The nostrils,

Upper lip.

I think the important part of this practice is equanimity,

Finding that space for yourself to be with whatever is there.

Maybe at the moment it's just thoughts.

We're not trying to get rid of them.

We're not trying to change them.

It's more stability,

Balance.

At the moment,

Just noticing the flow through our nose,

Upper lip.

The next point we're going to move to now is just at the brow,

Just above the eyes and the eye sockets,

Just the eyebrows.

And we're just going to hold our attention there.

No good,

No bad,

No important,

Less important.

It doesn't matter how much or how little you feel.

Just noticing.

And seeing how well we can just hold our attention.

And then brow to forehead.

And then brow to forehead.

And forehead to the top of our head.

And again,

We're just going to hold our attention there just for the next minute or so.

Remembering it doesn't matter how much or how little you feel.

The point of the practice is not to try and relax the body.

We're just feeling what is here with us now with equanimity.

And then round to the back of our head.

It doesn't matter sometimes if we want to jump directly to that sensation and then sort of begin to branch out and sort of begin to feel all the different sensations around that part of it.

And maybe you can't feel any sensation,

Just the intention,

The effort is wonderful in itself.

It doesn't matter if you can't feel something or you can.

You aren't trying to create,

You're just experiencing.

And that's what's important.

Or maybe you want to feel every sensation as you gently move your attention from the top of the head to the back of the head.

And then we bring it further to the base of the neck.

Remember distractions are an incredibly important part of the practice.

Maybe there's a sensation in your toes,

Your legs,

The sounds,

Thoughts.

And you're just watching as your attention diverts and just again with equanimity you bring it back.

No judgement,

No criticism.

And so from the base of the neck we're going to move out into the shoulders.

And as we move out there just feeling into the collarbones if you can.

And remember sensation is sensation,

No good,

No bad.

No proper,

Improper,

Perfect,

Imperfect.

Even no sensation is important.

And then we just rest our attention.

And notice what's there.

And then from the shoulders we're going to move our attention down into the elbows.

And like I said you either want to move it down slowly until you get to the elbow or move the attention to that particular point and hold it at the elbow and then just expand upwards.

There's no right or wrong,

No perfect,

Imperfect.

Just interested,

Curious.

What can you feel,

What can't you feel?

And from the elbows now into the wrists.

Maybe you can notice how your mind likes to describe what it can feel.

Maybe it wants to create a visual of what you can feel.

And just letting those go.

Just feeling sensations.

And now as we move into the hand we're going to start moving into the palm.

Maybe you can feel things like warmth,

Pressure,

Weight.

And then into fingers and thumbs.

All the way to the tips of the fingers.

Along the inside.

And just working your way up around the fingernails.

And just at the tip of the fingers.

Let's just hold our attention there just for a minute.

Just at the tips.

And the tops of our fingers.

The knuckles.

The tops of our palm.

The top of the hand.

And back into the wrist again.

And then from wrists to elbows.

From elbows to shoulders.

And back into the base of our neck again.

Top of the spine.

And again we're just going to hold our attention here just for 20 seconds or so.

And remember it's all about equanimity.

It's all about meeting whatever is there and just being with it.

Sitting with it.

Noticing aversion.

And just reminding yourself.

Sensation.

Just sensation.

And now from the base of the top of the neck.

Base of the neck.

Top of the spine.

And again we're going to make our way down into the mid.

Making our way along the spine onto the mid point.

So just sort of behind the heart.

And we're just going to hold our attention here just for a moment or two.

And then we're going to come down into the shoulder blades.

And we're going to come down a little bit further down.

Just sort of behind your belly button at the back.

Where a lot of teachers talk about sort of the area of the lower belly.

Just between the navel and the spine.

That sort of area there.

Maybe you can feel the movement of the breath down that area.

Maybe there's a sense of energy through the central channel part.

Or you can feel the curvature of the spine.

Maybe you're beginning to feel a little pain in the legs and stuff in your mind drifting down into the pain.

And just meeting that pain.

My teacher in particular used to say in points of pain,

Bring compassion.

Just meeting it with that sense of all those people out there that struggle with pain in their body.

And you're just going to hold a little bit of that pain just for a few moments.

And it's okay.

So you can have a sense of understanding,

A sense of warmth and compassion for what they are going through.

It's just a nice tender way of meeting with equanimity that discomfort.

Let's go down to the base of the spine.

Sort of the sit bone area.

So if you're sitting you can feel the sit bone sort of keeping you upright.

Open.

And remember sensation is just sensation.

That's what we're doing.

Just exploring,

Curious,

Bringing some warmth.

We're going to guide now just along sort of the hamstring area.

Just from the sit bones all the way along that hamstring area in a thigh to the underside of the knee.

Let's just hold our attention there in the underside of the knee.

Just going to hold it there just for 30 seconds.

Just gathering some of that attention,

Some of that focus,

Concentration.

Then we're going to go down through the calf to the ankles.

To the heels.

The arches.

To the end of our foot,

Feet,

Toes.

Just that whole area from the sort of heels all the way to the tips of our toes.

And again we're just going to hold a little bit of attention there.

Then we're going to go around to the top of the toes,

The toenails,

And all the way up along to the ankles again.

So that whole part from the tip of the toes to the ankles,

Top of the feet.

Next the shins,

The shin bone.

Don't worry about how well or not well you're doing.

These are just thoughts,

Comparisons,

Our superfluous.

So what we're doing is resting in sensations,

The curiosity and compassion,

A sense of equanimity.

Next to the knees again,

Just holding our attention just at the top of the knees.

The kneecaps.

And then next now from the kneecaps just along the top of our thighs,

Our quads all the way to our hips.

Just seeing if you can feel into those hips,

Feel where the bone meets each other,

The sense of weight that's there.

And remember equanimity,

Sensation,

Just sensation.

The shin come now up into the stomach,

Around to sort of the belly button area,

Navel.

Maybe you can feel the movement of breath,

Whatever it is.

As we come up further into the heart area,

Along the front.

We're just going to hold our attention here just for 30 seconds,

Just seeing if we can hold our attention just in this area.

As we go further into the throat,

It's just starting from the base of the throat,

If you'd like to,

Just gently working your way up.

It's even nice sometimes just to sort of open your mouth a little bit,

Breathe in through your mouth and feel the air passing down through the throat.

As we come to the jaw,

The chin,

The lips,

The teeth,

Mouth,

Tongue.

And back to the nose again,

Tip of the nose.

And we're just going to hold it here just for a minute.

And then we're going to close our eyes.

The last thing we're going to do is just finish by just doing a little dedication.

Dedicating this practice to maybe all those struggling with pain,

Maybe that your ability to sit with your own discomfort,

Your own struggle,

Your own aversion,

May ultimately help all people.

And you're just going to hear the sound of the bell now.

And if you're wanting to,

You're going to allow your eyes to open.

And as you're opening your eyes again,

I just invite you just to continue to hold some of that attention just at the end of the nose.

The last thing we do,

Just as you're hearing the bell,

Just feeling your entire body as one,

From head all the way down to your toes,

Just feeling it as one whole body.

Reviews

This was good in som many ways! The guided body scan, the guiding voice, the surrounding sounds, the tempo, the instructions. It was just what I needed! Thank you! 💖🙏

I mainly do yoga nidra meditations. This was quite wonderful, peaceful, and calming. It was interesting and quite calming and slow-focused unlike yoga. It was absolutely wonderful.

Fabulous. Thankyou, Dan😄 I love how there is even background noises that give one that moment to choose not to think (too much) about them & stay with the meditation ☺️ Thanks 🙏

CLARIFYING, Soothing and supportive. Thank U, ahimsa

Amazing guidance Dan, thank you 🙏

Body Scan at it's best.
🙏
Thanks

Thank you 💚

Wonderful. Best body scan. Love the focus on equanimity, and the pace. I will use this over and over. Thank you very much.

Very nice, slow guidance around the body and into equanimity.

Thank you! Your choice of words and guidance really resonate and help keep me in my practice. Really appreciate it.

Wonder Dan! Very centering body scan and lovely quiet tone of voice. Many thanks. ☮💖🙏

Really great vipassana, love the pace, calm voice, perfect length. Thank you Dan!

Thank you for the attention workout 😎

One of the best guided meditation! Thank you

Incredible. Thank you 🙏

I remember doing this in college PE about 55 years ago. I love it. Thank you for sharing this with us.

I don’t know much about Vipassana meditation, but I am having a great time learning. Thanks, Dan! 🕉🙏🏻❤️