Simply Being Present

This is a simple mindfulness practice to easily and effectively bring you into the present moment. Using mindfulness of breath, body, thoughts, and sounds, this short meditation is a great everyday exercise to make being present a natural habit.

Transcript

So often I like to start a meditation just by taking a few slightly deeper breaths in just to mark the beginning.

And as I breathe in that helps bring my attention into the body and into the present moment.

And as I breathe out I can start to consciously release the breath and that helps me relax into the present moment.

So maybe a few slightly deeper breaths just to begin.

And the idea now is just to allow your breath to find its own rhythm and its own time.

So you don't need to try and breathe any differently.

Just notice how your breath is occurring at this moment.

And be aware of the physical sensations that you can feel in the body as you breathe.

So as much as possible moving away from it being a conceptual or mental exercise.

And the awareness of the breath is about really feeling the breath in the body.

So as you breathe in really noticing how that feels in the body and which parts of the body are affected.

And as you breathe out noticing the different sensations in the body as you let go of the breath.

Now we're going to move on to various things that we can be aware of in the present moment.

But with each one the invitation is to not concentrate or focus.

So at the moment we're paying more attention to the breath.

But rather than an idea of concentrating on the breath to the exclusion of other things.

Try keeping your awareness nice and light and open.

So you'll still be aware of sounds and other sensations in the body.

You'll still be aware of how you feel and thoughts.

But what we're doing is just paying a bit more interest in the breath.

Bringing the breath into the foreground or the center of our awareness.

We're keeping that awareness nice and light and open.

Still connected with everything else happening in the present moment.

It's just happening around the breath,

Just slightly in the background.

So continuing to explore the sensations of the breath for a few more moments.

See if you can begin to enjoy the wave-like rhythm of the breath in the body.

As the breath rises and falls,

As you breathe in and out.

Allowing the breath to continue,

Just allowing the breath into the body.

Letting go,

Releasing the breath as you breathe out.

Often during a mindfulness meditation,

Especially at the beginning,

We may feel distracted by our thoughts.

We may have a lot of thoughts flying around.

Especially if we have just come to the meditation from being mentally active or busy.

So let's turn our attention to our thoughts next.

Allowing the breath just to be slightly in the background along with sounds and other sensations.

Let's pay most interest in the experience of thinking,

Noticing our thoughts.

So remember,

In this mindfulness practice,

We're not looking to change anything,

Just discovering whatever experience we're having.

So that goes to for our thoughts.

Don't try and change your thoughts in any way.

Just allow them to be as you find them.

It doesn't matter if they're positive or negative,

Fast or slow.

Just notice what it feels like to be thinking whilst your attention and your awareness is there with your thoughts.

So thinking whilst being aware that you're thinking.

How does that feel?

And maybe beginning to get a sense of the thoughts flowing freely through the mind,

Rising and falling in the mind.

Just as the breath continues to flow through the body,

Rising and falling in the body.

Being disinterested in the contents of your thoughts.

Interested in this feeling of thinking with awareness.

Noticing.

Being attentive.

Being open to welcoming any thought at all.

Let's try moving our attention to another aspect of the present moment.

Let's do a body scan.

This is a common mindfulness practice where you sequentially go through the body with your awareness,

Noticing all the different sensations that are there.

So bringing the awareness of your body into the foreground,

The centre of your light and open awareness.

Allow your thoughts,

Breath and sounds just to continue as they are.

So if we start with the feet,

Notice the sensations that you can feel right now in your feet.

You may feel contact with the floor.

Notice the temperature.

Any sensations from muscles,

Joints and skin.

Noticing any difference between the left and the right foot.

Moving the awareness up to the lower part of the legs and the ankles up to the knees.

Exploring what sensations you can become aware of here.

Going at your own pace,

But if you're ready you can move on to the upper part of the legs,

The knees up to the hips and the waist.

And explore any and all sensations in this part of the body.

Next we can move on to the hands.

Being aware of the fingers,

The back of each hand,

The palms,

The wrists.

And aware of the lower arms up to the elbows.

Noticing any tension in the shoulders,

Just noticing exactly how that feels.

And aware of the back,

Just allowing your awareness to move up and down and across the back.

Noticing any sensations you can feel there.

And the front of the body,

The stomach and the chest.

Noticing the movement of the breath as well as any other sensations.

And aware of the neck and the throat.

Aware of the mouth and the jaw.

And aware of the eyes and forehead.

Now we've gone through the body part by part,

Let's see if we can get a sense and awareness of the whole body.

Just as if you're taking a little step back in your awareness and feeling the whole body right here with you.

Maybe getting a sense of the weight of the body and how that weight is being supported.

A sense of any sensation of energy in the body,

That simple feeling of aliveness in the body.

Getting a sense of your physical presence,

The presence of your body in the space of the room that you're in.

And allow yourself to be fully 100% present with the body in the space of the room.

And for the final centre of our attention before we have a few minutes in silence,

We can allow our awareness to explore further around the body,

Around the space and our environment outside of us.

And begin listening to all the different sounds we can hear.

So sounds becoming the centre or the foreground of your awareness.

Thoughts,

Breath,

Body,

Feelings just slightly in the background.

Paying particular interest to the experience of listening and hearing sound.

Keeping our awareness nice and light and open.

So you may notice sounds that are quite loud and obvious.

Maybe noticing any quieter or more subtle sounds.

Noticing all the occasional sounds that come and go.

Also see if you can notice any background or continuous sounds that you may not have noticed so far.

Noticing sounds that are close by.

And then really allowing your awareness to broaden and widen and see if you can notice any distant sounds.

What's the furthest sound that you can hear?

Either wind or a car or a voice or a bird.

If there's nothing there at the moment,

Keeping that awareness nice and open in the left so that you're ready to catch any quiet,

Distant,

Occasional sounds.

So I'll leave three or four minutes of silence now without commentary.

You can carry on listening to sounds or any of the other elements that we've explored so far.

Whichever feels best for you right now.

Yes.

OK.

OK,

So just a few moments more before we finish off.

Just really making the most of this time.

So you just relax into the present moment,

Just being with yourself.

Nothing you need to be doing.

Just keeping that awareness nice and open,

Allowing your thoughts to flow freely through the mind,

The breath to flow freely through your body and sounds and your environment just to come and go through your open awareness.

Yes.

OK,

So when you're ready,

You can begin to bring the meditation to a close.

Maybe as we started taking a few slightly deeper breaths in,

Bringing your attention into the body.

And just opening your eyes if they've been closed just when you feel ready.

Reviews

Really love the simplicity of these practices. Not a lot of talking, but gentle guidance and soothing voice. Many thanks 😊 🙏

Thank you for providing such gentle and concise guidance 🙏

Very good but a bit too focussed on the breath for those of us who find that difficult.

Really enjoy the concept of moving stuff to the back and to the front. Very helpful.

Peaceful

I really enjoyed experiencing the light awareness space created by Stephen. My body and mind were in full awareness which made me feel centred and relaxed🧘. It was an amazingly calming practice, Thank you, Stephen🙏🏻💫