Mindfulness of experience in four steps.
Our intention is practising kindness with the whole of our experience and cultivating equanimity.
Bringing our attention to both the neutral,
Pleasant and unpleasant aspects of our actual moment-to-moment experience.
With an attitude of curiosity,
Openness,
Acceptance and kindness.
Settling now into a comfortable sitting position.
In the first step we practise paying attention to what is actually happening in the present moment.
So perhaps just asking ourselves,
How do we feel?
What is our experience?
Just opening up to any physical sensations already present.
You may like to say,
It's okay,
Let me feel it.
Practising bringing our attention down from the head into the body.
What is our actual present moment experience?
And when the attention wanders,
Which it will,
Noticing and practising making a choice to come back with care and kindness.
With awareness comes choice.
Perhaps we might choose to stay with whatever is in our mind.
Or perhaps we choose to come back into the present moment.
Into the physical sensations in the body.
Practising being with the breath or the feet on the floor as our anchor.
Breathing down into the ground.
Without judging our experience as good or bad.
Exploring the moment by moment sensations with a gentle curiosity.
Noticing nuances of sensation.
Perhaps thoughts and judgements.
Resistance or bracing.
And as much as possible,
Stepping back to observe.
To open space in awareness.
Using the breath as a vehicle for kindness.
Breathing into the body.
Softening.
Letting go with the out breath.
Noticing that sensations change.
That they,
Like the breath,
Have a beginning,
A middle and an end.
Now in the second step,
We gently turn towards the unpleasant or difficult.
Allowing whatever we may find,
Currently difficult or painful,
To simply be there.
With a soft,
Kindly and non-judgmental attitude.
Just noticing if we can lean towards what is there.
As best we can,
Allowing our experience to unfold breath by breath.
If there is nothing there,
Being curious to the changing movement of our experience as we ride the waves of our breath.
Perhaps saying to yourself for example.
Pain in small of back.
Unpleasant.
Stiff knees.
Unpleasant.
Temperature of the room.
Unpleasant.
Noticing that we feel overwhelmed by any sensations,
Thoughts or emotions.
Knowing that we can shift our awareness to the anchor of the breath.
But noticing if we can gently open up to any difficult sensations.
Breathing into whatever is here in this moment,
Into the light of our awareness.
Breathing into it.
Breathing out of it.
Just being with what's here right now.
As we are drawing onward,
Perhaps noticing physical discomfort,
Unpleasant thoughts or emotions are here.
If we are feeling emotional pain.
As best we can,
Seeing if we can soften into it.
Does it have an echo in the body?
Practicing holding it in our kind awareness as we might a child who has hurt themselves.
Gathering them to ourselves.
Holding them.
Soothing them.
Bringing the emotional pain into the light of the awareness.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Just practicing being with what's here now.
Exploring onwards now.
In the third step,
Shifting the focus of awareness to become sensitive to the pleasant dimensions of the moment.
Seeking out the pleasant.
Just gently allowing it into the light of our awareness.
It is already there.
We don't need to invent it.
Seeking out the good.
The simple pleasures of life.
It might be something like sunlight coming in through the window.
Pleasant.
Calm in the room.
Pleasant.
Warm hands.
Pleasant.
Practicing awareness of the pleasant aspect of our experience.
Enriching it by exploring it with our senses.
Absorbing the pleasant into the body.
Lingering with the sensations.
Anchoring and coming back to the breath.
Feeling how the gentle rise and fall has been a constant companion.
Feeling the sensation of gravity.
The sense of being held gently.
Closely.
Without fail.
Dwelling in what the body feels.
In what it knows.
Practicing not distracting ourselves from the unpleasant aspects of life.
Just simply allowing them to remain in the background of our awareness.
Nurturing ourselves by making the choice to spend time specifically paying attention to and dwelling upon the pleasant aspects that we may not have noticed.
Realizing that by practicing mindfulness we are intentionally deepening our ability to be fully present to the simple wonders of our life.
Step 4.
Choiceless awareness.
Practicing equanimity.
Exploring onwards now.
In the fourth step we broaden out our field of awareness to include and hold both the neutral,
Unpleasant and pleasant aspects of moment by moment experience.
Zooming out into a much broader quality of attention.
Practicing sitting with the neutral.
The pleasant.
And the unpleasant experiences.
Allowing them just to be side by side.
At one moment the breath may predominate.
Becoming aware of the movements of our breath.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
And then sound might become the most important.
Body sensations.
Thoughts or emotions.
Simply dwelling with an open awareness.
Attending to whatever arises.
Holding it all with a gentle kind awareness.
To the best of our abilities,
Noticing how it is all constantly changing.
Rising and falling.
Coming and going.
Sitting in stillness with whatever comes and goes.
Practicing being here right now.
Fully human.
Exploring the neutral,
Unpleasant and pleasant aspects.
Returning the attention now to the body as we sit.
Feeling the breath moving in the body.
Sensing the body sitting here,
Breathing.
Noticing the thoughts and emotions.
Exploring the experience of our very alive bodies.
And now grounding ourselves,
Earthing ourselves.
Breathing in and breathing out,
Down into the ground.
Breathing in and breathing out,
Down into the earth.
If it feels appropriate,
Remembering that practicing in this way helps create a wider,
Deeper,
More open way of being in our life.
We can see more clearly and make more conscious choices for health,
Wellbeing and freedom.
And gently turning our attention now to the sounds in the room.
The sounds outside of the room.
Maybe starting to move and stretch in any way that feels good right now.
The meditation is now complete.
