Sitting Meditation - Focus On Thoughts

This sitting meditation is typically offered as part of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) or Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapies (MBCT) programmes. It offers guidance on relating to thoughts.

Transcript

Sitting meditation with a focus on thoughts.

This meditation will last approximately 20 minutes,

So finding a place and a time where you can be relatively undisturbed and coming to sit.

Finding a posture which supports alertness,

A sense of paying attention,

Perhaps on a meditation cushion or a straight back chair.

Allowing the hands to rest in the lap,

The shoulders to drop away from the ears and tucking the chin slightly in so the back of the neck lengthens.

And if it feels right for you,

Allowing the eyes to close or perhaps having a soft gaze on the floor.

Settling into this posture.

And beginning by setting our intention for this practice.

So during this practice we'll be exploring different ways of relating to thoughts and inviting you to bring to bear all of the attitudes of mindfulness.

Beginners mind,

An attitude of openness and curiosity to our experience.

Having patience and trust.

Non-striving,

Not looking to get anywhere,

Not looking to achieve a certain state,

But instead a letting go of any expectation and allowing what is the case to be the case.

And whatever we find in our experience,

Having an attitude of non-judgment.

Bringing the awareness to breath.

Beginning with noticing the breath,

The sensations of breath low down in the body,

So right below the navel.

And like the camera lens,

Zooming our awareness,

Our attention right down into this part of the body.

Locating the breath here,

Following the in breath and the out breath low down in the belly.

During this practice the breath will be available to us at any time.

Perhaps times where we feel we need to steady our awareness,

Or at times maybe when we feel a little overwhelmed,

A place for us to get back to,

An anchor point for our awareness.

Following the in breath and following the out breath.

And now zooming out so that we hold in awareness the whole body and there's a spacious sense of this whole body breathing.

So noticing the sensations of breath in other parts of the body,

Maybe in the chest,

Maybe there's a movement of the shoulders or back as you breathe in and out.

So holding the whole body in awareness and as best you can noticing the sensations of breath in the whole body.

Each in breath,

Each out breath.

And allowing the breath to be as it is as you find it.

It doesn't have to be a particular way,

Deep or shallow,

But allowing the breath to be as it is.

Trusting that that's good enough.

And from time to time the mind will wander.

Noises from inside or outside of the room might pull for our attention,

Compete for our awareness.

And that's to be expected and largely something we can't control.

So as best we can just notice where the mind has gone and coming back to breath,

Escorting the awareness back to breath each time it wanders.

This breath and this moment now.

And from time to time when we've been sitting in this way for some time it might be worth checking in with our posture.

And making any gentle shifts or movements that support a sense of wakefulness,

A sense of alertness.

And being aware of all of the movements involved in this slight shifting of posture.

Choosing the in-breath and following the out-breath.

So wherever the sensations of breath are most apparent for you,

Choosing now,

Making the deliberate intention to rest the awareness here as best you can.

So whether that's a broad awareness,

A spacious awareness of the whole body breathing or a narrow focus on a particular part of the body and the sensations of breath here,

Making that choice.

Now allowing the breath to fade into the background and in the foreground of our awareness,

Just allowing thoughts to be held in the foreground of our awareness.

And we'll be working with thoughts in different ways.

But one of the first ways in working with thoughts differently is just by pausing long enough,

However long that may take,

To recognize the thought arise and develop.

And as you notice this,

Perhaps saying to yourself,

Making a note of,

Ah,

Thinking,

Maybe labelling the thought,

Planning,

Problem solving,

Worrying,

Judgement,

Or choosing your own labels.

So each time a thought pulls through your awareness,

Pausing,

Making a note,

And assigning a label to the thought,

And as best you can,

Returning the awareness back to breath.

So that we don't need to necessarily get caught up in this thought,

In a process of endless judgement,

Or trying to fix or solve this thought,

But instead we're making note of it.

There I go again,

Planning,

And right now bringing the awareness back to breath.

So this is one way of working with thoughts,

And taking the next couple of moments to practice.

Breathing in,

And breathing out.

Each in breath a new beginning,

Each out breath a letting go,

A letting be.

So again,

Allowing the breath to fade into the background,

And once again bringing thoughts into the foreground of our awareness.

And the second way of working with thoughts is by simply allowing them to arise in our awareness to develop,

And without attaching to these thoughts,

Noticing what happens.

Perhaps they fade away.

We can imagine that thoughts are a little bit like the weather,

In that our awareness is the sky,

Something that doesn't change.

But our weather patterns,

Our thoughts,

Our emotions,

Are things that are subject to change,

To flux.

And imagining that a thought is a bit like a cloud in the sky,

Watching it arise,

Develop,

And eventually fade away,

To drift on by.

Maybe it's a dark cloud,

Or maybe there are many clouds in the sky at the moment.

But trusting,

Knowing that,

This weather will pass.

So in our awareness,

Watching thoughts arise,

Develop,

And fade away.

So the breath is in the background,

Something we can call upon at any time.

But for now,

We're holding our thoughts in awareness,

And watching them drift through our awareness.

Here one moment,

And gone the next.

Alright now,

Let's jam to your favorite dreaming moment,

Today.

Thoughts arising,

Developing and when we don't attach to them,

Fading away,

Drifting away.

Our thoughts and emotions are similar to that of the weather,

Subject to change.

And maybe on the next out-breath becoming aware of the feeling in the body.

Maybe there's a sense of pleasantness,

Unpleasantness or neither.

Perhaps there's been a slight change in the weather of our minds.

Perhaps not.

Bringing the breath back into the foreground of our awareness now.

So resting the awareness on the breath in the body.

Following the in-breath,

Following the out-breath,

Allowing the breath to be as it is.

And in a moment we'll explore another way of approaching thoughts and emotions.

And perhaps during this practice or during the week so far you've noticed that there's a pattern of thinking.

Certain thoughts carry a strong emotional charge,

Maybe a judgment to criticism.

I should be able to cope.

I must do better.

Maybe a sense of hopelessness.

Why are things like this?

What will help?

Inviting you now to drop into the body as you notice a pattern of thinking.

Maybe it's a well-worn pattern of thinking or something that's recently been troubling for you.

And as best you can,

Locating the part of the body associated with this thought.

So sensing into the body to explore this thought and the emotion that it carries.

Allowing the breath to guide your awareness into the center of this sensation.

And being open and curious to all that you find.

Really exploring this,

Getting to know it.

Remembering that turning towards takes a great deal of trust,

Bravery.

And allowing what you find to be there in itself is a radical act.

But truly getting to know this for what it is.

How our thoughts are often a bundle of emotions and sensations.

And if it feels right for you,

Staying with this sensation in the body.

Breathing into and out from this sensation.

Maybe it resides in the pit of your stomach,

A lump in the back of the throat,

A tightness of bracing,

A heaviness of the eyes.

Wherever these sensations are most apparent for you,

Choosing if you will to bring your awareness right into the center of these sensations.

And gently,

Kindly exploring all that you find.

On the in-breath,

Opening.

And on the out-breath,

Perhaps saying to yourself,

Softening.

These are the guests in your guesthouse.

Let me be open to them.

I don't have to like them,

I don't have to want them.

But right now they are here.

Let me be open to them.

Allowing the breath to wash over this area of sensations in the body.

Almost like that of a wave.

Breathing into and breathing out from this part of the body.

And letting go.

Opening the breath back into the foreground of your awareness.

And choosing now to have a broad awareness of the whole body breathing,

Or a more narrow focus on the breath in a particular part of the body,

Where the sensations are most alive for you.

Whether that's the belly,

The chest,

Or the nose,

Or the back of the throat.

Resting the awareness on the breath.

And in a moment I'll ask you to take a deeper,

More intentional breath.

And on the out breath,

Breathing out heavy.

Allowing any tension,

Holding or bracing,

To release on the out breath.

This ends the sitting meditation.

Reviews

This was a good standard foundation stone of meditation for me. It helped me settle down into the breah. Such a gift. Then explore the emotional guests that were residing in my body, my heart, that were deposited there from my thoughts...this was a great way to notice and acknowledge them, with no thought of taking action around them. I liked it very much and would return to this basic meditation often.

Thank you for doing your guided meditations, I like how you don't add any music nor anything else that could be potentially distracting, your voice is genuine, calm and soothing, because of your sessions I started using Insight timer again, enjoying fauly practices again... thank you thank you thank you!