In this meditation,
Practice coming home to the breath,
Mindfulness of breathing,
Learning to settle in to the natural rhythm of the breath and use it as an anchor for our meditation practice.
And as you settle in,
You can find a posture that's comfortable.
You wanna be upright,
But not stiff,
Not tense.
Relaxed,
But alert.
A posture that makes you feel awake and open.
And we can begin with a few deep breaths,
Breathing in and out,
Coming in to the present moment.
And as you breathe out,
You can just imagine you're putting down the stresses of the day,
Thoughts about the past,
The future,
Just creating space to settle into the present for the duration of this meditation,
Giving yourself that gift.
And I've found in my experience,
Especially working with meditators who have busy lives or who experience a lot of distraction or anxiety or just mental activity,
That it's often helpful to take some time to settle into the felt experience of the body before going into the breath.
Sometimes if we go to the breath too quickly,
It can be a little constricted and like we're trying to force something to happen.
So let's try that.
Let's just forget about the breathing for a moment and just feel your body in space and feel it from the inside out,
Body in the sitting posture.
What does that feel like?
You can get an overall sense of the body sitting or you might try tuning into specific areas of the body.
I always find it helpful to start with the points of contact between my body and the earth,
The points where the weight of the body is being supported.
So the seat on the cushion,
Pressing down,
Just feel those sensations.
And the legs or the feet on the floor,
Maybe the hands or the arms in the lap.
And getting a feel for the quality of rest,
The body being at rest,
The earth supporting the body.
Not asking anything in return.
You don't have to earn it.
You don't have to prove anything.
It's just there supporting you.
See if you can relax into that feeling of being supported.
And as you do that,
You kind of soften the mind,
The thinking mind.
Let it almost like go hazy a little and just softening and downward into that feeling of the body contacting the earth.
Thinking happens,
That's fine.
That's natural.
You don't have to fight with it,
But just almost like you're coaxing the mind into a different territory,
The territory of the body coming out of the head,
Out of the domain of thinking and opening up to the domain of body right here,
Present.
Letting the breath flow naturally within that field of the body.
The breath is a kind of rhythm,
A process that occurs within the body.
So just starting to get a feel for that,
Not trying to breathe in any special way,
Not trying to do or accomplish anything,
But just noticing how the body breathes and what that feels like.
Getting curious about the breath,
Relaxing the thinking mind,
Relaxing the sense that you need to do something or accomplish something.
The body knows how to breathe,
Whether it's short or long,
Whether it's peaceful or not,
It's just the way it is right now.
Can you be aware of that and be at ease with that?
Not trying to add anything to the picture.
No need to stir anything up or go anywhere.
Letting the mind and the body just relax.
Right here,
Present moment,
The body breathing.
Where do you feel the sensations of breathing?
Can you feel them in the chest?
Do you feel them in the belly or the nose?
Maybe all three.
Being curious,
What's it like to be with the breath as it comes in,
As it flows out?
And with a light effort now,
Very light,
See if you can be mindful of the breath from the moment it begins on the inhale all the way through the inhale.
And then do the same for the exhale.
This breath staying in the present.
If the mind is jumpy and doesn't want to stay,
Sometimes it can help to take a few deliberate,
Deep breaths and even pause at the end of the in breath,
The end of the out breath,
And just sustain mindfulness there and notice the transitions between the in and out breathing.
And sooner or later,
You'll notice that the mind doesn't want to stay with the breath.
Other things call our attention,
Grab at our mind and pull us into something else.
Discomfort in the body,
Pain in the body,
Perhaps.
Tension,
The feeling of restlessness,
Impatience,
Wanting to get this meditation over with.
How much longer?
Maybe I can look at the clock and see,
Maybe I'm almost there,
Right?
And then that pulls you out.
And what does that feel like when you feel the pull of that?
Can you,
Just for a moment,
Note the pull away from the present,
Away from the breathing,
And just sense how it feels.
Stressful,
Unsettled,
Agitated.
Hmm,
Okay.
Breathing through that,
Breathing through the agitation.
You don't have to get rid of it.
Unpleasantness is a part of life.
Thinking,
Distracting thoughts are a part of life.
You don't eradicate them in meditation.
You coexist peacefully among them.
Just note what's present very lightly and then return to the breath,
Resting in the breath as your anchor,
Allowing the waves of thought and feeling to swell and crash and do what they do.
But you don't get sucked in by them.
You stay with the breath in and out,
Returning again and again to the simplicity of this breath right here.
And you can just practice like that now on your own for a couple minutes.
I'll leave you in silence and ring a bell to close the meditation when it's time.
