Hi,
Welcome to this guided meditation.
Today,
We're going to explore and learn the four-step transition.
The four-step transition is a helpful practice to enter and exit our meditation session.
It helps bridge the gap between daily life and meditation practice.
It's also very helpful if you're struggling with distractions as it will make it easier to relax and let go.
When you're ready,
Close your eyes.
Make sure you're seated comfortably.
And throughout the sit,
Keep your back straight.
The first step of this four-step transition is to bring our attention to what's happening right now around us.
So we're going to explore what's happening right now and right here.
For example,
You're hearing my voice and you may be also hearing other sounds.
You may be feeling the touch of air on your skin.
Even though your eyes are closed,
You may be seeing a few lights behind your eyelids.
It's also normal to have thoughts coming in and going away.
We're not trying to choose something specific to look at,
We're just exploring what's happening now.
That's the first stage of our four-step transition.
Just bring the attention here and now.
Being aware of where we are.
Being aware of what we are doing.
And now we will move to the second step of our four-step transition.
In this second step,
We're going to look at what's happening inside of us.
We're not trying to repress what's happening outside,
But we're looking specifically at what's happening inside.
We may be feeling sensations,
Either in our legs,
Our arms,
Our chest.
We may be feeling the touch of the cushion or of the chair under our bottoms.
We may even be hearing inner sounds or seeing inner lights behind our eyelids.
So we're taking a moment to observe what was already happening inside of us before we even looked.
And what are we seeing?
Different sensations,
Some pleasant,
Some unpleasant,
Perhaps even some that are neutral.
But we're not judging them.
We're not preferring one over the other.
Our job is to look at them clearly,
As objectively as we can.
And doing so,
We are training our mind to look.
We're training our mind to look and not to react.
Now we can move at the third step of the four-step transition.
We're going to look at the sensations produced by breathing.
For example,
You may feel your chest expanding and contracting as you inhale and exhale.
You may also feel your whole body expanding and contracting as you breathe.
Can you feel the flow of air passing through your nostrils and entering your lungs?
That is the third step,
Observing the sensations produced by breathing.
Now in the fourth step,
We're going to look even more specifically at the sensations produced by breathing at the nose in the area below the nostrils,
Above the upper lip.
And in this limited area,
We will see sensations when we inhale.
We will observe sensations when we exhale.
Like before,
Our only task is to observe them and not to react to them.
So that completes the four-step transition.
And now we're going to use the same transition in reverse order to exit the meditation and go back to normal life,
But with even more clarity and awareness than we had before meditating.
So from the sensations at the nose,
We're going to move to all sensations produced by breathing throughout the body.
That is step three.
See your chest expanding,
Contracting.
See your whole body slightly moving as you keep breathing naturally.
Now at step two,
We're going to look at all the sensations throughout the body.
Sensations in our legs,
In our arms,
Sensations in our chest,
In our head.
Any sensation you may feel at this moment,
Just observe.
See what's going on inside your body.
Now we move back to step one of the four-step transition.
We're coming back to everything that's happening right now,
Right here around us.
Being aware of the sound of my voice and of the other surrounding sounds.
Aware of the touch of your clothes on your skin.
And when you feel ready,
Gently open your eyes.
That was the four-step transition.
You can use it anytime you begin to meditate and every time you end the meditation session.
