Thank you for joining me again.
It's always great to get together with people here on Insight Timer.
And this meditation is about quieting the mind as a first initial step in a meditation journey.
There are other pieces of meditation and meditation practice that we'll talk about in further sessions.
But this one is about quieting the mind.
And very simply,
What we'll be focusing on for just a few minutes is to be able to accept any thoughts that come in.
And in that acceptance,
To simply continue to come back to a quieter state within your own thoughts.
So let's get started.
Find a comfortable position.
And as you move into the quiet of this meditation,
Just take an easy breath.
And allow that breath to roll back out without holding it,
Without trying to relax.
Just simply release that breath.
And now take another.
And as you release this breath,
Feel your body relax.
Just simply let go.
And begin to feel relaxation moving across your entire body.
From the top of your head,
All the way down your body,
To the bottoms of your feet.
Just feel this relaxation moving like a wave,
All the way down your body.
Relaxing all the muscles and joints,
The bones.
Just letting go of any stress or tension that may exist within your body.
And as you take another easy breath,
Feel this relaxation all the way down,
All the way to the bottom of your feet.
And just let your body go.
Just relax.
One more breath.
Easy inhale.
A relaxed and easy exhale.
And then begin to observe your thoughts.
See if you can create just a little bit of distance between you watching your thoughts.
See if you can observe them,
Listen to them,
Knowing that you are the one who is listening.
You are the one who is observing.
See if you can find that space where you become the observer.
The observer of your thoughts.
And then begin to slow your thoughts down.
To quiet them.
And you can use your imagination for this part.
Some people like to put their thoughts onto a train.
Each car representing a thought.
And as a train goes by,
Watching those thoughts,
You can slow the train down.
Quiet the thoughts.
And have the train go slower and slower and slower.
Some people like to use their imagination.
And have a volume control on their thoughts.
So you can reach out with your hand and take the volume control and turn it down.
Gradually,
Slowly but steadily.
Take the volume of your thoughts and reduce that volume.
Be in control yourself of the volume of these thoughts that you're observing.
So whatever way works for you,
Spend just a minute reducing these thoughts to a slower,
Quieter,
Calmer state.
And while you're doing this,
Remember to come back to being the observer.
Remember to come back to watching,
To listening,
And to being the observer and the listener.
So when you start to feel yourself get caught up with the thoughts,
Just remember gently with kindness and compassion to bring yourself back to observe again.
And use the train analogy or use the volume control,
Whatever works for you.
And slow down those thoughts.
Quiet those thoughts.
And continue to come back to sitting in the place of the observer.
Quieting your mind doesn't have to be difficult.
It can simply be the use of your own imagination to slow your thoughts,
To quiet your mind,
To reduce the volume.
And the more you practice this,
The better you'll get at it.
So for just one more moment,
Feel the calmness that comes over you and within you when you quiet your mind,
And when you practice coming back to being the observer.
So remember that you have this power,
And even if your thoughts seem like they're overwhelming or out of your control,
They're not,
You can simply use this practice to quiet your mind.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Please make this practice your own.
Many blessings.
