Focused Attention Meditation

This is a focused attention meditation which encourages the listener to try several different places to focus the attention and then choose one that works best. The body, the breath and sound are explored.

Transcript

This is a focused attention meditation,

Inviting you to bring attention to your posture,

Sitting in an upright and comfortable position,

With spine stretched upward,

Supporting your body with no need to add anything else to it,

So checking in to see if you're holding yourself in any way that isn't needed,

And inviting a sense of ease and relaxation.

And as you feel into your posture,

Bringing your attention right into the way in which your body is making contact with the chair or the cushion or whatever it is you're sitting on.

Bringing an interest and a curiosity to what the sensation feels like.

Perhaps you feel a sense of pressure where the body is making contact,

And noticing if that pressure is evenly spread,

Or if you feel it more strongly in some places than you do in others.

Bringing a curiosity and an interest to what can be felt right now in this moment.

As you bring your attention to your body in this way,

You may notice that the mind wanders off.

This is not a problem in any way.

It doesn't mean that you're not doing it right,

Or that you can't do mindfulness.

It only means that the mind has wandered off,

And this is what minds do.

And then gently bringing the attention back to where we are,

In this case bringing awareness to what it feels like to be sitting in this way.

And returning again and again,

As many times as needed.

Each time you notice the mind has wandered away,

You're back in a moment of mindfulness.

And then inviting you to allow these sensations of the body making contact with the chair to fade into the background,

And to shift your attention to the way in which the hands are making contact with the body,

With each other,

Or with the chair.

Once again bringing interest and curiosity to what this feels like.

As the hands touch the body or one another,

You might feel a sense of heat,

Of tingling,

Of pressure.

What is it you notice in these contact points?

Bringing the fullness of your attention to this exploration.

And then inviting you to open your attention to the whole body sitting here.

Bringing awareness to the mass of the body.

Perhaps aware of the sense of gravity pulling down on you.

A sense of uprightness at the same time.

Resting attention in the whole body or whatever part of the body you can feel.

And as you're sitting here in this way,

You might notice that breathing is happening.

You might notice that breathing is happening in the whole body.

And what does that feel like?

How do you know that you're breathing?

And then if you like,

You can focus into one particular area of breathing.

Bringing your attention to breathing happening right in the belly.

What does that feel like?

Bringing your curiosity,

Interest and wakefulness to this exploration.

Feeling the rising of the belly on the in-breath.

A sense of fullness when the lungs have reached capacity.

And then that sense of release on the out-breath.

Maybe you even noticed a pause before you draw your next in-breath.

Bringing your attention to each breath.

Recognizing that each breath is unique and different and can be known.

And then allowing the feeling of breathing in the belly to fade into the background and shifting up into the area of the chest and feeling breathing in this area.

Feeling that expansion of the ribs on the in-breath.

A sense of fullness as the lungs reach capacity.

And then the out-breath begins.

The air fully leaving the lungs.

And then another in-breath begins.

Knowing this breath in this moment.

And then shifting up to breathing happening in the nose.

Maybe you feel a slight tugging of the nostrils on an in-breath.

And a slight flare of the nostrils on the out-breath.

Maybe you're aware of air moving on the upper lip.

Noticing if you're breathing through one or both nostrils.

What does it feel like to be breathing through the nose?

And then allowing the sensation of breathing to fade into the background and shifting your attention to sound.

Bringing your attention to sound arriving right at the ears.

This is a receptive listening.

It's not going out looking for sound.

It's noticing what arrives right at the ears.

And you might notice that the mind wants to label the sound you're hearing.

To name what they are.

Has opinions about whether it likes them or doesn't like them.

And you can notice this happening and let that go.

And come back to noticing sound for the sake of sound.

The quality of the sounds.

The sound high-pitched or low-pitched.

Is it steady?

Occasional?

Pulsating?

Does it rise up,

Persist for a moment or two and fall off?

When the mind wanders off,

Noticing where it's gone.

And then really gently bringing the attention back to sound.

And then considering these different focal points.

These different anchors for the attention.

That of the body.

Whether it be the way in which the body is making contact with the chair or cushion.

The way in which the hands are making contact with the body.

Whole body sitting here.

Awareness of breathing in the belly,

The chest or the nose.

Or sound.

Choosing one of these to place the attention for the rest of this meditation.

You're not sure you can arbitrarily pick one.

It doesn't really matter.

What is important is that you pick one and not bounce around from one to the other.

And so bringing the attention fully to whichever focal point you have chosen.

And notice that you've been invited to rest the attention here.

Not keep the attention.

The mind will wander,

Noticing it.

And then coming right back to your anchor.

Noticing where the attention is.

Bringing kindness,

Gentleness,

Openness to whatever it is you are.

What are finding in your experience?

Bringing a softening.

A softening to whatever is arising.

The possibility of putting down whatever comes into the mind,

Of not needing to engage with it.

Putting it down and bringing your attention fully to this moment.

Meeting this moment right now.

And so bringing the attention fully to whatever it is you are.

And so bringing the attention fully to whatever it is you are.

Bringing a sense of ease and allowing.

And this isn't a big doing,

It's more receptive.

Perhaps checking in with your posture.

To see if it is supporting both wakefulness and interest.

And a sense of ease and groundedness.

And then returning to your focal point.

This moment right now,

The only moment that we ever have.

And so bringing the attention fully to whatever it is you are.

Bringing awareness to how things are right now in this moment.

And doing so,

Maybe aware that things aren't just the way you might like them.

And this is okay.

You can bring a sense of opening,

Of softening to whatever might be in your experience.

Touching into this moment right now.

And so bringing the attention fully to whatever it is you are.

Wakeful,

Alive,

Interested,

Observing,

Knowing.

And so bringing awareness to whatever it is you are.

Noticing how things are right now.

And bringing a sense of allowing to however that is.

And so bringing awareness to whatever it is you might like.

And so bringing awareness to whatever it is you might like.

Returning again and again to your area of focus.

Bringing a freshness and interest in each moment.

And a sense of,

Ah,

This is how things are right now.

And so bringing awareness to whatever it is you might like.

And so bringing awareness to whatever it is you might like.

The mind will think thoughts,

They're not a problem.

You might even notice that you get carried away for a while with a particular thought or series.

This isn't a problem at all.

In fact,

The more kindly you can meet yourself in this moment,

The more you'll see that the conditions for mindfulness arise.

And so bringing awareness to whatever it is you might like.

Meeting life as it is right now.

Touching into how things are.

And so bringing awareness to whatever it is you might like.

And so bringing awareness to whatever it is you might like.

Gentle,

Receptive,

Open presence.

And so bringing awareness to whatever it is you might like.

And so bringing awareness to whatever it is you might like.

In a moment,

You'll hear the sound of a bell ringing.

And when you do,

You can turn your attention fully to the sound of the bell.

This will signal the end of this meditation.

Reviews

Very encouraging🏆

Namaste 🙏

Informative and soothing!

Great work, thank you! Namaste 💚🙏

wonderful. just what I needed. really helped my focus with the gentle reminders. thank you .

Thank you for such helpful cues, gentle suggestions. I always use my nose to anchor but successfully stuck with abdominal area and it felt great.

Wonderful and simple meditation. Perfect as a daily routine. Thank you for this beautiful and spacious meditation.

Gentle guidance and practice.

Wonderful meditation & wonderful voice. Thank you 1🙏