Day 1 - Starting To Learn To Meditate

This is day one of five minutes of daily meditation. There are a few things to know before we begin about what to expect, how to sit, what to focus on, and what might happen when you finish. That over time and with practice the mind will change.

Transcript

Day one introduction to meditation There are a few things to know before we begin Nothing is going to happen to you You will not float away. You will not think nothing. You will not stop your mind. You will not have any mystical magical experiences You will not solve all of life's problems in a few moments of silence There is no right or wrong way to practice. You are simply going to sit and breathe Expect nothing from this experience but sit and breathe Prior to meditation Posture is important. You want to be comfortable and you want to stay awake. Please sit in a chair There's no need to sit on the floor and cross your legs. Although you can if you feel comfortable doing that Keep the back somewhat straight and your shoulders relaxed Hands are resting gently on your knees or in your lap Feet are flat on the floor. Your eyes are closed if comfortable or slightly open and your mouth is also closed You're breathing in through the nose whatever is comfortable for you and Most important be comfortable when you breathe. I Am now going to guide us with your meditation meditation practice one Start with closing your eyes Start with taking three deep breaths Breathing in and breathing out through the nose Take another breath in And breathing out Take one more breath in And release the breath And as you settle into a natural rhythm of the breath Knowing throughout the practice that you will hear sounds inside the room and sounds outside These are not distractions They're not disruptions simply what's happening around us as we sit and breathe Begin to notice the mind as it wanders jumping from thought to thought Gently guide the attention and focus to the stomach or the chest as you breathe in Feel them rise And as you breathe out feel them fall Simply continuing this practice observing the sensation of breath Notice the mind as it wanders release that thought Returning attention and focus to the breath Breathing in follow the breath in And release the thought And release the thought Breathing in follow the breath in and breathing out follow the breath out Breathe out The mind wanders gently guide attention back to the breath Let go of expectation or judgments of your practice just sitting and breathing Breathing in Feeling the stomach rise and breathing out Feel the stomach fall Learning to be comfortable in stillness Knowing what it is like to just sit and breathe Again take three deep breaths in and out One more breath in Releasing the breath Slowly open the eyes and slowly begin to move Consider this after you meditate The most important part of meditation practice is now Immediately after when you realize that any sort of quiet or still peace or calm that you feel or any sort of racing mind that you may have has nothing to do with anything I said has nothing to do with how you sit or cross your legs and it has nothing to do with the sounds around us it has everything to do with your own mind and your own mind's reaction to external situations what we realize from the practice of meditation is that this is our life every day things happen and we react more things happen and we react more most people respond to meditation quietly and peacefully but the question is how do you respond to everything else that happens in your life for most people it's not just your mind but your own mind's reaction to what you feel for most of us this feeling is quite different from how we felt an hour ago or how we will feel an hour from now what we are working on is closing the gap to where the way we feel now is closer to how we feel always just as driven and motivated and successful and productive yet with a mind that is steady and focused distracted by nothing and disturbed by no action is not easy and it's not fun but it's free and it takes nothing but a few minutes every day and a busy racing mind which most of us have meditation is not an escape from reality it is direct perception into your own thoughts when we are in a good mood it is from the thoughts that we have and when we are in a bad mood it is also from the thoughts that we have once we stop trying to change and control everything outside of us and we work on changing our mind our heart and our reaction to the world around us life gets a little easier a little more peaceful a little happier ultimately nothing changed except our own minds

Reviews

Thank you for giving me a new way to approach my busy mind.

What a fantastic meditation preactice. I have been meditating for a while and starting this program from the beginning made much sense as ever. It is centering, grounding and provides asobering connection to life after meditation practice.