Enjoying Meditation

If you can learn to enjoy meditation, you might find that it brightens your day, and motivates you to meditate more! And it's not so difficult - try this simple method and, little by little, you can start to cultivate ease and pleasure in your practice.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this 10 minute meditation on enjoying your meditation. Let's begin by feeling the body, Just getting an overall sense of it and just noticing how the body feels right now. Maybe it's tense or relaxed, Maybe it's calm or agitated. It's all okay, Just feeling how it is right now. And when you feel ready, Starting to focus your attention on the sensations of breathing. And you can feel the breath wherever you choose to, Perhaps at the stomach or at the chest or somewhere else. Just feeling the breath as best you can. And when you notice that your mind's wandered, That's okay. There's no need to become self-critical. That won't add to your enjoyment of meditation. So when you notice that the mind's wandered, Just gently return it to the breath. Now starting to notice if there's anything at all enjoyable about the breath. Can you find even the faintest hint of pleasure in your experience of the breath? Maybe the in-breath feels slightly refreshing as the body takes in the air that it needs. Maybe you can feel the relaxation of the out-breath, Really letting go. Maybe you can notice some quality of softness in the breath or smoothness or lightness. And if you can't notice any of these things, If that's not how it is for you, Then that's fine. Just keep gently exploring, Just noticing and just keeping an eye out or an ear out for these qualities in your experience of the breath. Now let's broaden out to explore the body. So noticing if there are any pleasant sensations in the body, No matter how subtle. Perhaps your hands feel comfortable, Relaxed. Or your feet, Perhaps your clothes feel comfortable against your skin. Perhaps there's some quality of ease in the way that you're sitting or lying down. Gently exploring your physical experience, Just looking for those frequencies, Those notes of enjoyment, However faint they may be. And when you find them, Just tuning in, Just feeling and experiencing them, Enjoying them. So looking for some subtle quality of enjoyment somewhere in the body. And if you can find it, Just enjoying it. And if you can't find any enjoyment or even if you find the opposite, That's okay. If we keep on listening to the body in this way, Over time it might start to reveal these notes of enjoyment to us. And I'll leave you in silence for the last minute of the meditation to continue exploring the body and breath and enjoying any pleasant sensations that you might find. And now we can bring this meditation to an end.