I think we all know that we're at a point in the development of humanity's evolution.
When we need consciousness intelligence far more than we need artificial intelligence and meditation is probably one of the most effective ways of developing consciousness.
I've been meditating for 40 years and teaching meditation,
Mindfulness and consciousness technologies for about 30-35 years.
And this is a series of my top tips from those years of meditating and teaching it.
And the first one is that if we First of all,
Ground through our bodies before we begin meditating.
We will be a lot,
Lot more successful and effective in our meditation.
I'm not just going to talk about that.
I'm going to guide us into it.
So if you get into a nice comfortable position No extravagant.
Cross-legged lotus positions necessary,
Just a nice straight spine if possible.
If you're working with illness or a long-term condition then of course you might be semi-reclining or even lying down.
I worked with people with long-term conditions for a long time,
So do work with whatever you can.
It will not stop you being able to meditate.
Often actually getting into artificial or natural positions,
Uncomfortable positions,
Is likely to prevent meditation much more than finding a comfortable position.
This is absolutely essential and something I'm always talking about.
Because we're trying to make the mind more flexible and softer.
And more malleable.
So if the body is rigid in any way,
It becomes a huge distraction.
Point number one,
Position comfortable.
Upright,
Relatively upright if possible and you can close your eyes if that feels comfortable for you.
I will do that for a little while as well and Just have a little bit of a check through the body to see if you can ease off any places that might be a little bit uncomfortable.
So the neck.
The shoulders.
Making sure that your body feels supported so that you're actively receiving support from the ground,
Your feet in contact with the ground,
The base of your back is another good anchor point.
And just receive,
Receive support.
From the chair from the bed that you're on whatever you're on.
And then feel your body.
Now lots of times people say,
Oh,
You need to be in your body more.
You need to come into your body.
And I know myself,
For a long time,
I wondered what on earth they meant.
It kind of went along with,
You need to be in your heart.
What does that possibly mean to someone that's not been brought up with any kind of understanding of that?
To be in the body,
The easiest way to come into your body is to actually feel sensations in the body.
So again with your eyes closed just feel Are there any parts of your body where sensation feels quite vivid.
Now that might be linked to a place of discomfort.
Even towards pain or it might be somewhere where there are a lot of nerve endings concentrated in the body and that's likely to be in the feet in contact with the ground.
The hands,
Either in contact with each other or in your lap.
Or the lips on the face.
So these are parts of the body that have got a lot of concentration of nerve endings.
So.
.
.
The body is comfortable.
We've done a little bit of softening of the neck and shoulders.
And now connect to the breath.
And if it feels natural to you.
You can take a slightly deeper breath.
And on the out breath.
Use the out breath to soften off the body a little bit more.
So do a few breaths like this,
So a deeper breath in,
And on the out breath,
You can even sigh the breath out and bring a certain relief.
Into the body.
Oh.
And you can feel gravity helping the body to feel a little bit more heavy in the chair.
And the contact of your feet on the floor.
Leaving your legs might feel a little bit more heavy you might feel your arms a little bit heavier So we're just starting to encourage the mind to relinquish its terrible domination.
And to allow the body.
To start having attention focused on it.
So.
My top tip,
My top tip.
Meditation tip.
Is come into the body first.
Come into the sensations of the body first.
Everything will be a lot,
Lot,
Lot more easy after you do that.
So we'll just have a few more minutes.
And I'll just guide us through the body and into a slightly deeper state.
What's actually happening in meditation?
Is that the brain waves are starting to slow down and deepen.
So we're often in busy beta.
Beta waves and that's We're on automatic pilot.
We're doing our to-do list.
When we start to slow those brainwaves down,
We come into the alpha brainwaves,
And that's where we become more mindful.
And mindfulness is the gateway into meditation,
Because it means we're back in touch with the body.
With the mind.
And the mind in a slower,
Deeper rhythm.
So,
Let's just.
.
.
Let's just get really comfortable.
Take those couple of deep breaths as if we're just beginning afresh.
Soften the face.
Feel.
Your feet.
In contact.
With the ground.
So the right sole of the foot.
In contact with the ground.
And the left sole of the foot.
In contact with the ground.
Your breath is going to settle by itself.
Into its deeper,
Slower rhythm.
So you're not going to try and force that in any way.
You might even find that the breath actually,
You suddenly find yourself taking a little bit more breath.
That's very natural at the beginning of a meditation.
That's my top tip number two.
Let the breath settle by itself.
Don't push the breath or do anything with the breath.
Just ignore it.
And let it just do what it wants to do.
So the face is soft.
You can feel the lips in contact with each other.
You might still at the beginning be adjusting your position,
Adjusting your spine.
Snaking it a little bit.
To really find the sweet spot.
And whatever you're sitting in.
The shoulders are soft,
The back of the neck soft.
You might also soften the front of the throat.
And one of the things that you'll notice.
.
.
Is that as soon as the mind starts to settle,
Your senses become a little bit more acutely tuned in.
So if there's any sounds in the room that you're in.
And they will tend to be a little bit more loud and vivid.
You might even notice.
That it's as if your ears,
The energy in the inner ears is tuning in.
As you actively listen.
For subtle sounds.
So this is also part of coming into the physical body.
And into the senses.
And then just notice the breath.
So without changing it.
Just feel the rhythm of the breath.
As it comes into and out of the body.
One of the first meditation methods,
The Buddha talks.
Was to know when you're breathing in.
And to know when you're breathing out.
So we're actually feeling that,
We're not thinking about it.
We're actually feeling what the breath does in the body.
So there'll be a slight movement of the stomach and even the chest as the breath comes in,
A little bit of an expansion.
And on the outright will also feel the breath.
In the body.
You might also deliberately feel the breath.
When it's coming in in the nostrils.
And it'll always be a little bit cooler.
In the nostrils.
The out-breath will be a little bit warmer So again,
We're actually connecting physically.
To the breath,
To the body.
We're letting the mind,
We're not worrying about the mind,
We're doing nothing at all with the mind,
We're not trying to calm it down,
We're not trying,
As the expression goes,
We're not trying to clear the mind,
We're not even thinking about or doing anything about the mind.
All the focus is in the body.
This is the body.
Becomes the primary focus of attention,
The mind will naturally settle by itself.
