Mindful And Collected: A Meditation For Life

This is a guided lead in to a meditation that draws from teachings rooted in the Thervada and Insight traditions. It takes the yogi through aspects of mindfulness (sati), before a gentle transition to cultivating collectedness (samadhi). You can use this lead in for a practice of any length. May it serve you well!

Transcript

Settling into a posture that allows you to be stable,

Upright,

And really check that none of your muscle groups,

Particularly in the abdomen,

The back,

Are working too hard to hold you up.

Better to be leaning on something than to be in pain.

So you want to be balanced and steady,

And you might just notice with the mind's eye the posture the body's in,

Almost that ability to see in your mind the bend of the elbows and the knees and the position of the head on the neck.

The body's like this now,

And then inviting the body to soften.

So inviting the eyes to soften and the jaw,

The shoulders,

Letting that softness roll down through the arms and into the hands.

Letting the back soften,

First in the shoulder blades and then the lower back,

And then the belly.

Letting all the muscles in the pelvic area soften,

Settle into the seat beneath you,

And letting the legs soften,

And often as the body softens there's more sensation,

Starting to notice internal sensation,

Heat and coolness,

Tension,

Openness,

Vibration.

And amidst these internal sensation,

You might also notice the breath.

That's one of the sensations too.

That feeling of air moving into the body and then back out.

I'd like to invite you to let just 10 or 20 percent of your awareness stay connected to that feeling of the breath.

You don't have to go all in,

Just a light,

Steady connection,

The same way that if you're driving a car you can be aware of the scenery passing by and the sounds on the radio,

But still have your eyes on the road,

And just keeping a piece of your awareness on the breath.

Whatever is going on in the mind and the body,

You're just breathing with it.