Mind Like Sky Meditation

Tune into body sensations, the present moment. Feel the pleasure of the breath to deepen concentration. Allow the spaciousness of the mind like sky...

Transcript

So go ahead and allow the eyes to close.

Noticing that as we do that,

All that external visual stimuli recedes,

Allowing more attention for other things.

And again,

You might first pay attention to the posture,

The body overall.

You might want to take a few deep,

Slow breaths,

Inhaling deeply,

Exhaling slowly.

Which is a language that the body understands as relaxing.

You're giving the body the signal,

The part of the nervous system that knows how to relax.

And you're giving the body the signal,

The part of the nervous system that knows how to relax.

Let go.

Another deep breath,

Exhaling slowly,

And settling in to the seat,

To the foundation of the body and the chair,

Feeling the weight of the upper body sinking into the chair,

The force,

The gentle force of gravity,

Which also can be a signal to relax,

To let go.

You don't have to brace or tense up.

You can let go into gravity,

Into the support of the chair,

Into the support of the floor and the earth itself.

Know where to go,

Nothing else to do.

But to bring awareness of body and mind into this present moment,

Right here,

Right now.

And let the awareness rest in the area of the forehead,

The brow,

And the eyes,

Letting go of the automatic,

Compulsive focusing of the eyes,

Reaching out and grasping for images.

Nothing to look at,

Nothing to do.

Letting the focus soften,

The muscles relax,

Along with the cheeks,

Jaws,

Mouth,

Tongue,

Letting go of the facial expression,

The expression we present to the world.

No need for that now,

Just letting go.

Relaxing the back of the throat,

Allowing for an easy,

Pleasant breath in and out.

Relaxing down the front of the torso,

Chest,

Belly,

Lower abdomen.

Down the back of the torso,

Shoulders,

Upper and lower arms and hands,

Shoulder blades,

Middle and lower back,

Again,

Finding support and rest in the seat.

Relaxing down the thighs,

All the way around the neck,

Thighs all the way around,

Knees and lower legs,

Heels and feet,

Feeling the soles of the feet.

And bringing attention once again into the torso,

Into the face to notice where do you feel the inhalation and exhalation most prominently?

Where is it easy to focus on?

In the nostrils,

Cool air in,

Warm air out.

In the chest or solar plexus at the bottom of the rib cage.

In the belly,

Expanding,

Contracting.

Picking an area to work with to feel the breath,

The sensations.

No rules,

No words,

No stories.

Just in the body with sensation.

Allowing the breath to breathe itself without imposing anything on it,

Just observing,

Just feeling it.

Relaxing down the thighs,

All the way around the neck,

Knees and lower back,

Again,

Finding support and rest in the seat.

And bringing attention once again into the torso,

Into the face to notice where do you feel the inhalation and exhalation most prominently?

If mental talk or other things draw your attention away,

Just gently guide it back to the sensations of the breath.

Being attentive to each in-breath,

Each out-breath.

Relaxing down the thighs,

All the way around the neck,

Knees and lower back,

Again,

Finding support and rest in the seat.

And bringing attention once again into the torso,

Into the face to notice where do you feel the inhalation and exhalation most prominently?

If mental talk or other things draw your attention away,

Just gently guide it back to the sensations of the breath.

And bringing attention once again into the torso,

Into the face to notice where do you feel the exhalation most prominently?

If mental talk or other things draw your attention away,

Just gently guide it back to the sensations of the breath.

And bringing attention once again into the torso,

Into the face to notice where do you feel the exhalation most prominently?

If mental talk or other things draw your attention away,

Just gently guide it back to the sensations of the breath.

And bringing attention once again into the torso,

Into the face to notice where do you feel the exhalation most prominently?

If mental talk or other things draw your attention away,

Just gently guide it back to the sensations of the breath.

If the mind becomes foggy or the attention gets dull,

Be mindful again of posture,

Upright attention,

Alertness,

And rededicate yourself to clarity and focus.

If you haven't already,

You might notice the pause at the top of the inhalation and the longer pause at the bottom of the exhalation.

It perfectly You may find that the breath slows and at times you feel like just resting without breathing for a little while.

Just allow that,

Feel the sense of rest and ease and serenity.

You may find that the breath slows and at times you feel like just resting without breathing for a little while.

And if you feel physically and mentally relaxed,

As well as mentally alert and aware,

If you'd like you can turn attention to the feeling of the breath in the whole body at once.

Feeling the whole body breathe as it were,

And limiting the focus on a specific part and feeling the whole body as you breathe in and out,

Perhaps with a sense of spaciousness,

More open awareness.

If you find that the mind gets busy or there's physical sensations that intrude in the sense of peace and spaciousness,

Try to regard them the way that the sky regards clouds,

That form flow through and then fade.

The sky allows everything to be present,

But has no opinion or attachment to it.

Let the mind be like open sky,

Spacious,

Unreactive,

Allowing without gripping onto or pushing anything away.

So,

Let the mind be like open sky,

Spacious,

Unreactive,

Allowing without gripping onto or pushing anything away.

So,

Let the mind be like open sky,

Spacious,

Unreactive,

Allowing without gripping onto or pushing anything away.

So,

Let the mind be like open sky,

Spacious,

Unreactive,

Allowing without gripping onto or pushing anything away.

So,

Let the mind be like open sky,

Spacious,

Unreactive,

Allowing without gripping onto or pushing anything away.

And in a moment I'll ring the bell to end this meditation.

But before that,

Just review what you've done,

Beginning with a brief body scan,

Relaxing parts of the body to bring some sense of comfort and stillness,

And focusing on the breath in a specific area of the body where you feel it most easily,

And then opening attention to the whole body and the sense of spaciousness like sky to allow for a thinning out of the sense of self,

Me,

I,

That dominates so much of our time and activities.

And remember that you can access these experiences at any time during the day to one degree or another,

By bringing awareness to the body,

To the mind,

To the body,

By bringing awareness to the body,

Relaxing,

Checking in with the breath,

Bringing mindfulness and attention to whatever you're doing.

It automatically brings calm to body and mind and encourages you to be more connected even to day-to-day activities.

Reviews

Nice job my friend, hope to see you on Fridays against

Excellent guided meditation. Great for relaxation and building concentration. Thanks.

Plenty of space between the precise, knowledgeable and focusing instructions. I loved it.

Hi Fran, I really enjoyed this meditation. Thank you for telling me about it this morning. I think I will enjoy coming back to it from time to time. Your voice is very calming and gentle. Namaste. EM

Great meditation, thank you. I found it challenging so I will definitely come back to it again for more practice.

Thank you. I thoroughly enjoyed this meditation. You have a calming voice and didn't talk too much which was wonderful ;) it always brings me peace to think of my mind as the sky

Thank you so much Fran. I really enjoy this meditation.

Wow! I formed a new way with my thoughts, seeing them just as clouds coming and going. This is a proper meditation without any of that new age music silliness like you see in too many meditations here.

Deeply refreshing. Brief noise at end was unwelcome

Thank you, for being a great guide. Blessings to you.

Nicely done. Begins with body scan. Moves into breath work. No music. Some background noise. Recommend.

Thank you! This was really a soothing experience. Soft and slow voice and enough space in between brought me into deep meditation.

One of the better guided meditations I've listened to.

Peaceful. Thank you.

Amazing - will be using again for sure

Just lovely with lots of space and quiet moments. Thank you and Namaste.

Excellent just the right balance of guidance and silence

Super relaxing. Namaste🙏

Everyone should have this in their toolbox. I ran a 4hz binaural beat in the background which helps.
Anyone interested can get Binaural (by Giorgio Calderolla) from the App Store. The basic app is free with no ads no catch.