A Quick Meditation For Continuous Renewal

In a society obsessed with productivity and "doing" it can be really challenging to honor moments of stillness, even though these moments often hold vital wisdom for our well-being. This meditation is simple, yet can be challenging since. You'll be guided to put down the doing–seeking out the next instruction or thinking about the next thing to "do– and to direct your attention in a way that is mindful of whatever is attracting your attention.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Dawn,

Buddhist Meditation and Mindfulness Meditation teacher,

Author,

And mentor.

Thanks for joining me.

Let's get started.

Settle into a posture and into your practice.

Invite your body to relax in places where you might be holding on or leaning into the next moment.

You can line the head up with the hips if you're seated or standing,

Or if you're lying down,

You can let the head sink back into your support.

Notice in these pauses if there's an urge to do.

Perhaps there's a subtle energy of waiting for the next instruction.

These are really normal responses.

For this practice,

We are simply putting down the doing.

Simple but really difficult.

You can take baby steps toward this by allowing yourself to follow your attention wherever it lands.

The general idea behind this practice is not to direct your attention to be anywhere in particular.

It might feel sporadic,

But the difference between now and any other time is that you're being mindful of what you're paying attention to as best you can.

For right now,

All you need to do is sit,

Stand,

Or lie here,

Noticing what you're thinking,

Hearing,

Feeling,

Or how you're breathing.

You're really just seeing where your attention is being drawn to.

Invite your body to relax.

Notice if you're on guard,

Trying to ensure you'll catch the next thing your attention is drawn to.

Relax the body.

Relax the effort.

Just notice what you notice and let go of the things that slip through your fingers or that you didn't have the time to mentally note down.

No big deal.

If you feel yourself searching again,

Even subtly,

Invite that energy to relax,

Or you might even say something to yourself like,

I see you searching,

Thank you.

If possible,

For these last few moments,

Notice the pauses between whatever you're noticing and just rest in that pause and that silence between sensations or thoughts.

Allow yourself to be in that space however long it lasts.

Maybe a millisecond,

Maybe longer,

Or maybe not at all.

You can spend this last minute just resting here.

Thank you for your practice.

Until next time,

Take care of yourself because that's how we can best take care of others.

Reviews

Hi Dawn, very helpful this morning. This reinforced my continued practice of mindfulness. Thank you!