Taking a little bit of time to ground ourselves as we prepare for meditation.
And this meditation is an open monitoring meditation where we take time,
Place in our mind where we choose to place it in a number of different domains,
Including the body or emotions,
Thoughts,
For example.
So training ourselves to be there in those domains,
But also training ourselves in our self-awareness of what's happening in the body or emotions or thoughts,
For example.
And so starting first with finding an object of meditation that's here with you every moment of the day that we can think of as our anchor point that we can come back to wherever we are.
The invitation is for that anchor point to be the breath if the breath is a comfortable or a neutral place for you to be with.
And so we're there with the in-breath and the out-breath following it along its entire arc as long as that place is comfortable for us.
Listen if the breath isn't a comfortable place or a safe place,
Then inviting you to find an alternate anchor that could be something like a part of the body,
Like the palms of the hands or the soles of the feet.
So we're there with the sensations,
Say of touch or warmth or coolness.
Or if you'd prefer,
You could choose an anchor point such as sound and those raw elements of sound like how loud or soft it is or whether it's rhythmic or arrhythmic.
So finding your way to an anchor point of the breath or a part of the body or sound and allowing the attention to be there with it.
And if the mind wanders away from that object of meditation,
Then that's what the mind does and just seeing where it wandered to.
Observing that with curiosity,
Even acceptance,
The mind just went where it went.
Did it go somewhere new?
It's never been before.
Did it go somewhere pretty familiar?
That's just good information about ourselves.
That's how we are today.
And if the mind has wandered away from that object of meditation,
Then inviting it back,
Even with some firmness but kindness back to this moment,
Back to this breath or this part of the body or this sound.
The object of meditation is sound,
Perhaps noticing how deep or shallow the breath is.
And if the object of meditation is a part of the body,
Perhaps noticing the sensations of touch or lack of touch or comfort or lack of comfort.
And if the object of meditation is sound,
Perhaps noticing whether the sound is rhythmic or arrhythmic,
Just being there with those raw elements,
Not giving it meaning like it's a bird or a vehicle going by,
But just being there with those fundamental elements of rhythmic,
Arrhythmic volume,
Pitch.
So whatever your object of meditation is,
The breath,
The body or sound,
Taking a bit of time to be there with that.
And then if you like starting to shift the focus to be there with the sensations in the body,
If you haven't already been in that zone,
Always respecting any limits you have including limits around connecting with the body.
If there's feelings of overwhelm there,
You can always skip this reflection and stick with the anchor point that you've been working with.
So always respecting your wisdom more than the words in this meditation.
If you'd like to connect in with the body,
Shifting the awareness to that,
Perhaps noticing the points of contact with the body with the surface that it's resting on.
And then if you'd like opening up that awareness to the entire body and seeing what sensations are being felt,
The strongest right now and if those sensations are steady or if they shift and change.
So what is here in the body right now?
What messages is it sharing in this moment?
Just observing the body without any judgment and with kindness,
Curiosity.
It's like we're scientists just seeing the data coming in from the body.
So what is it sensing right now?
What is it sharing with us?
And then if you like starting to invite awareness to now be placed in the sensation of sound.
Maybe you've already been here and you can deepen this practice and if it's new to you for this meditation,
Just extending into those raw elements of sound.
So what's here in the soundscape?
Can we be there with those fundamental elements of how close it is or how far away the sound is or if it's steady or irregular,
How loud or soft it is?
Just opening up to what arises in the domain of sound or lack of sound.
And I feel like the next invitation is to connect in with the emotional tone,
Even just noticing the general valence of the emotions like if they're predominantly neutral or predominantly negative or predominantly positive.
Imagine what's being sensed in the feeling tones in this moment and if those feeling Feel like even naming what emotion is there silently,
Whether it's peacefulness or agitation or anger,
Gratitude,
Whatever is present,
Not judging it for what it is,
Just naming it knowing it's just there.
It's okay.
And then if you like shifting awareness to now move towards the thoughts.
And so here it's like we're watching the thoughts kind of like we're sitting back in a theater watching a movie go by.
So my thoughts are rising and shifting and changing.
Can we just take a step back from them and observe them?
So here we are coming to know ourselves where almost the entire human experience takes place in the domains of the physical sensations and emotions and thoughts.
So we're training ourselves to be here with all of them.
Being there with kindness and curiosity,
Gentleness,
Not judging ourselves for how our body or mind are just coming to know it better and training ourselves to place our mind where we choose to.
And so the next invitation,
If you like,
Is to open up the aperture of our awareness to include whatever is arising in the body or the thoughts or the emotions.
And it may be that one of those domains is predominant or maybe it shifts between the different domains.
But here we are training ourselves to be right here right now with this moment that's never happened before.
Training ourselves to be here with our life as it unfolds moment by moment.
So just observing what's here in the physical sensations,
Emotions,
Thoughts.
Now in this moment we've got nowhere to go,
Nothing to do.
We're just stopping and calming,
Resting,
Being here with this body and this mind,
With a sense of friendliness,
Kindness as we observe what arises in the physical sensations or thoughts.
And then if you like,
Starting to invite the awareness to return back to that anchor point that we started the meditation with.
Whichever one you've selected,
Whether it's the breath or a part of the body or sound.
Anchoring back in,
Coming back home to that breath or that part of the body or that sound.
Anchoring in,
Coming back home to this breath or this part of the body or this sound as it unfolds moment by moment.
And as this invitation comes towards a close,
Inviting you to bring forward what seems wise from this meditation into the next part of your day or your evening.
