Hello and welcome to this session.
Over the next 20 minutes or so I'll be leading a guided body scan and mindfulness practice.
If you're new to meditation then you're very welcome.
It's really helpful to remember that you're not needing to stop your thoughts or push away anything.
Mindfulness practice is about turning the attention of your heart to what is here and holding whatever is present for you right now.
Now in these strange times there may be a lot more anxiety,
Worry,
Stress for some of us and that can be included in the practice.
So the mindfulness practice is as my teacher when I trained in a Buddhist monastery some years back my teacher Ajahn Menindo talked about mindfulness practice as being building a container to hold the chaos.
We're building a container to hold the chaos as we meditate and actually within the holding there is then a peace,
There is a stillness,
A calm but very often that stillness,
That calm,
That peace it comes from learning to be present in the midst of difficulty.
I like to imagine it as being a bit like the eye in the in the middle of the tornado.
So in the middle of even the most ferocious storm there's this point of stillness and when we battle what's here when we don't want our thoughts when we try to force things to be different it's as if we walk into the storm and then we get blown around by the winds.
If we can learn to center ourselves to become present to be here rather than in the mind that is catastrophizing about the future or regretting the past if we can simply be here present awake then we come into that point of knowing,
Of presence and then we can witness the storm and we can acknowledge this is hard feeling worried,
Feeling anxious is hard.
This is difficult isn't it?
It's like we speak to ourselves from a heart of compassion as we meditate as if we were a kind parent speaking to a frightened child.
These difficult emotions we might have especially now in such challenging and uncertain times these difficult emotions are asking for us to turn to them and we may need to assert that you know we don't need to be taken over by this emotion but at the same time how do we hold it with kindness?
So that's what we're going to do in the practice now.
The body scan allows us to really bring our attention down into our body and the felt sensations of what is here right now and that can already start to create a shift for you but when we come into the meditation if you find that what's here for you is a sense of ease and peace and presence really allow yourself to rest into that the bliss rapture that can arise within meditation but if what's here for you is stress anxiety fear worry then turning the attention of your heart to that asking yourself where do I feel this in my body really feeling it as a sensation and as you feel it starting to explore what it's like to breathe into that place breathe out from it and to hold it so you imagine you're surrounding and holding it with the breath.
So settling into a comfortable posture if you're sitting on a chair your feet resting on the floor your hands resting on your legs if you're sitting on cushions on the floor it's making sure you'll be comfortable for about 20 minutes if you need to putting a couple of other cushions or pillows under your knees if your if your knees aren't resting on the floor so that your legs are supported and then lengthening the back of your neck a little tucking the chin in allowing the shoulders to roll back and down and closing your eyes sitting still and tall like a mountain.
And now bringing your attention down into your body dropping your attention down into the weight of your body resting on the chair bringing your attention all the way down down through your legs all the way down into your feet down into your toes starting to notice any sensations you can feel here in your toes tingling your warmth coolness whatever sensations you notice.
And then expanding your attention to include the soles and heel of each foot noticing the sensations here the top of each foot and feeling each foot as a whole noticing where the feet are in contact with the floor and through that contact with the floor having the sense of how the floor expands out to the walls and the walls go down down into the earth down into the foundations and you're connected connected down into the earth from that sense of being connected to the earth bringing your attention up through your body now coming into the lower legs the calf and shin noticing the sensations here on the outside or inside.
If radio me chatters away and pulls your attention here and there as soon as you notice saying to yourself thinking and coming back to the sensations of your legs tingling warmth whatever it might be and bringing your attention into your upper legs the thighs and hamstrings and noticing the sensations here.
Bringing your attention into the pelvis feeling the weight of your body on the chair or cushion and being aware of this whole space of the pelvis and you might notice a gentle rocking here in the pelvis with each breath the tailbone tucking under as you breathe in releasing as you breathe out taking a few breaths seeing if you notice this or if the pelvis feels still and bringing your attention up through the spine out into your back feeling the movement here with each breath the ribs attaching to your spine opening and closing.
The shoulder blades lifting dropping.
Inhaling.
And shifting your attention into the upper arms,
The biceps and triceps,
Noticing the sensations here.
Perhaps noticing a gentle movement in the arms,
Connected with the breath,
Lifting,
Dropping.
Bringing your attention into your lower arms.
The top of your hands.
Palms.
Fingers and thumbs.
And shifting your attention into the shoulders.
The back of your head and ears.
The top of your head,
Maybe noticing a tingling here around the crown.
The face.
Relaxing the jaw,
The eyes.
Bringing the tip of the tongue to rest on the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth.
Just the flat top part of the tongue resting on the ledge behind your top teeth.
Keeping your tongue here and it creates a circuit so energy can flow through your body.
You might notice the mouth becoming more moist.
And to feel the touch of the breath at your nostrils as the breath flows in and out.
The air cool and dry as it enters.
Warm and moist as it leaves.
Seeing if you can feel this brushing against the outer edges of your nostril.
And following the breath down into your chest,
Feeling the movement here.
All the way down into your belly.
Now having a sense of your whole body as you sit here,
The weight of your legs,
The contact with the ground.
The movement in the body with each breath.
And if you find your mind is settled,
That is embracing the body,
The sensations.
Easily.
And sitting with this broad sense of your body,
Simply letting your attention rest on the experience of the body moving in response to the breath.
If you need a clearer anchor for your attention,
Then choosing one sensation of the breath wherever you most enjoyed noticing it.
If you find you're feeling sleepy,
You can focus more around the nostrils.
If your mind is busy and hectic and.
Charging here and there.
Then you can focus more on the sensations in the back,
Imagining that you were breathing in through the back,
Breathing out from the back.
Finding what approach works for you right now,
Choosing a clear anchor for attention or keeping a broad,
Choiceless awareness of the whole body as you sit.
And as you sit now,
Following any sense of ease,
Pleasure,
Bliss that is arising in your experience without grasping hold of it or trying to make it into a fixed thing.
If it's there simply enjoying the experience of ease and resting deeper into that.
But if there's a sense of difficulty,
If there's a difficult emotion,
Knocking at the door,
Asking to be held.
Turning the attention of your heart to that.
Feeling where that emotion is in your body.
As a sensation.
Being curious about the sensations in this place.
And then breathing into the middle of this.
Breathing out.
And allowing the breath to surround and hold whatever is there.
As a way of anchoring your attention,
Keeping your awareness on the breath.
And for a few breaths,
You may like to say to yourself in,
As you follow the breath in,
Out,
As you follow the breath out.
Doing this a few times until you feel your attention is fully anchored on this flow as a breath and then sitting with this broad sense of your body,
The sensations.
Whatever emotions are here.
And I'll ring the bell and we'll sit with a little less guidance now for a few minutes.
As you explore this in your own way.
As you explore this in your own way.
Noticing where your attention is,
If you need to,
Gently guiding it back to the breath.
As you follow the breath now,
Noticing how as you breathe out,
There's a moment's pause before the next breath flows in,
Being present to this moment's pause within the flow of the breath.
J.
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