Effortless Presence of Body, Space and Sounds

A relaxing mindfulness meditation to ease you into a deep experience of effortless presence by turning our attention outwards into the environment around us. (Starts abruptly; sound quality improved as much as possible - March 2021.)

Transcript

And now as we breathe in,

Breathe in awareness into the whole body.

Maybe allow the breath to be a little deeper.

If it helps,

You can imagine or feel the body to be hollow.

So as you breathe in,

Filling the body with breath.

Filling the body with awareness.

Expanding the awareness from the breath to the whole body,

Noticing how the body is feeling.

Feeling the weight of the body.

Feeling that gentle pull of gravity.

And allowing the weight of your body to be completely supported,

Completely held.

And give yourself permission to let go.

Allowing the body to relax,

Noticing how that feels.

Become aware of all the points of contact,

That sensation of connection between you and the chair or the floor.

Feeling that pressure,

That warmth,

Sinking into that feeling.

Be aware of all the other points of contact across the body between your skin and your clothing.

Checking your arms and legs.

Back,

The front of the body.

Taking time to explore all those sensations of contact.

And perhaps being aware of the air on your hands or face.

And as you scan through the body,

Looking out for any areas of tension in any of the muscles.

Maybe in the calves or the thighs.

Maybe in the stomach or chest.

Maybe in the stomach or chest.

Checking the shoulders and the neck.

Being aware of the jaw.

Is there any tension being held in the jaw?

Maybe around the eyes and the forehead.

If you do find any tension,

Spend a few moments really feeling that sensation in a neutral way,

Accepting it exactly as it is.

If the muscles feel ready,

Allow them to soften,

To ease and let the tension drift away.

And as you breathe out,

Letting go of the breath and letting go of any tension anywhere in the body.

And give yourself permission to become that bit more present.

As you allow the body to relax,

You're allowing yourself a greater connection and presence.

So feel the sensations in the body.

Feel the energy of the body.

Feel the aliveness of the body.

Really feeling the energy that makes this body alive.

And feel the presence of the body.

The body is always here,

Always in the present,

Always in connection.

Allow your awareness to be here with your body.

Sitting with your body.

Your awareness and your body together in this moment.

Allowing your thoughts to flow freely.

Allowing your breath to flow freely.

Allowing the sensations in your body to flow freely.

All three joined by being in the same moment right now.

All three joined by being in the same moment right now.

For the next part,

We'll begin to turn our attention outwards into the environment around us.

So whilst we continue to allow our internal environment of thoughts,

Feelings,

Breath and sensations to continue.

We'll open our awareness and connect with what's happening around us.

Connecting to the space where we are.

Beginning by getting a sense of the location of your body.

Getting a sense of the presence of your body.

And become aware of the space immediately around the body.

Aware of the space just in front of you.

Aware of the space just behind you.

Aware of the space to your left and to your right.

Aware of the space just above your head.

Then allowing your awareness to move out and become aware of the space in the room where you are.

Aware of the space between the walls,

Floor and ceiling.

Getting a sense of the location of the body in the space around the body in the room.

You can use your mind's eye or just get a sense,

A feeling of that space,

An awareness of where you are.

And then let your awareness move out further beyond the room into the building.

And then let your awareness extend beyond the building outside in the space around you.

Getting a sense of how the space stretches out towards the horizon all around you.

Getting a sense of the earth below you.

And a sense of the sky above you.

Letting your awareness fill that space.

And allow your thoughts to flow freely away from you into that space.

Giving your thoughts that freedom.

And breathe into that space.

Breathing in and breathing out into the space around you.

And allow your body to be part of that space,

Connected to it,

Not separate from it.

Thank you.

Now we can begin to explore all the sounds we can hear,

Listening to all the sounds in our environment.

Actively listening with attention.

Noticing the occasional sounds as they come and go.

Noticing any continuous background sounds.

Noticing the louder sounds.

And also listening out for the quietest sounds.

And listen out for the nearest sounds.

And then see what the most distant sound is that you can hear.

Then try imagining or feeling as if you're listening to sounds for the very first time.

Appreciating the unique combination of sounds in each moment.

Thank you.

So allowing everything that's happening around you in your environment to be there just as it is.

Holding everything within your awareness.

Allowing sounds to come and go within that space around you.

And maybe getting a sense of a stillness,

A quietness,

A silence.

That's there in the background out of which sounds come and go.

The quietness,

The stillness is always there,

Just like the space around you is always there.

And allow yourself to become part of that space,

To become part of the present moment.

Your thoughts,

Your emotions,

Your breath,

Sensations in your body,

The sounds around you,

All part of the same present moment.

Allowing yourself to become part of the whole.

Embracing everything that's happening internally and externally.

Knowing that it's all happening right now in this space of the present moment.

Allowing everything to happen,

Allowing everything to flow.

Not needing to add anything,

Not taking anything away,

Just being with everything just as it is.

Let go of any sense of effort.

Let go of any attempt at concentration or focus.

Allow your attention to move freely.

Notice where it goes moment to moment,

But don't direct it.

Let it move freely from thoughts to sounds,

From sensations in the body to the breath,

From the space around you to your feelings and emotions.

Maintaining a gentle awareness.

A relaxed alertness.

Attention without any tension.

Letting go,

Being at ease.

At ease with yourself and with where you are right now and with what's happening.

Being aware of your own awareness.

Aware that you're conscious.

And aware of your own presence.

And for the last few minutes,

Effortlessly allowing time to pass by moment by moment.

Noticing change,

Letting it come and go.

Simply noticing where your attention is in this moment.

And wait to see where it goes in the next moment.

Free and open and effortless.

You may want to even try to not be in the present moment.

Noticing how that's almost impossible not to be present right now.

Reviews

So grateful for this practice. Feels wonderful to be so deeply relaxed and alert. I’m learning how useful it is to allow all the thoughts to be in open space around me and this is sincredibly helpful to me. I feel relieved of heaviness. Thank you 🙏

Wonderful🥰! "Free, open and effortless..."
Lovely meditation. Thank you💫🙏

Very calming. Thank you Stephen. ✨💚✨

An impressive collection of self examination, reflection, and observation. I was really pleased with the various ways he used the full 30 minutes. No redundancy. Just calm, relaxation.

I liked this. Kept me relaxed and present

Exactly what I was looking for in this moment, thank you

this is the essence

Loved it. Uncomplicated guide to being present. For me, this is what meditation is all about.

Sweet, calming instructions. This is a good basic meditation where it's really ok to allow the thoughts to come and go. Thank you.

Thanks a lot! This was perfect relaxation for me. ☀️

Thank you! 🙏😊🌸🌺✨

Wonderful, simply wonderful 🙏🏻