A brief talk and guided meditation practice,
Mindful breathing,
Developing focused attention,
Mindful listening.
The truth is that the moment we begin to cultivate the practice of mindfulness,
We are immediately confronted by the reality of attention.
Our lives are driven by endless distractions.
When we find the time to sit quietly with eyes closed,
Bringing our attention to the sensations of breathing,
We also find our attention is often quite scattered.
Our minds start wandering and can be hard to pin down.
The key here is to pay attention to our in and out breath with the attitude of acceptance,
Kindness and curiosity.
When our mind wanders and we notice,
Those are the moments of mindful awareness.
We congratulate ourselves that we noticed and kindly bring our attention back to the breath and to the body,
Over and over and over again.
Now let's practice together.
Go to your mindful posture,
Sit with your back straight,
Relax yet alert,
Like tree reaching for the sun.
Your eyes can be closed or open with soft gaze.
Take a few deep breaths in and breathe out thoroughly.
Allow your attention to be aware of your in and out breaths.
When you breathe in,
Say to yourself,
I am aware of my in breath.
When you breathe out,
Say silently to yourself,
I am aware of my out breath.
And whenever your mind wanders,
Simply notice it,
Be aware of it and bring your attention back to your breath.
Let go of any sensations or feelings you are experiencing at this moment in your body or in your mind.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
If you feel you are losing your focus,
Find your anchor,
Find your anchor force and breathing in and breathing out.
Once you get distracted and your attention slipped away from your breath,
Just notice it without judgment,
Just be aware of it.
Those are the moment of awareness and kindly bring your attention back to your breath and to your anchor.
Simply notice how you feel at this moment.
Now I would like you to take a few deep breaths in and this time bring your attention to your ears.
Now listen very carefully to the sounds in your environment.
The sounds inside the room you are in,
Sounds of your own breath,
Sounds outside.
Just listen mindfully for a few moments.
Simply listen to all the sounds around you.
See you can hear your own breathing or maybe you can hear your heartbeat or any other sounds in your environment.
Gently bring your attention back to your breathing,
Come back to center,
Come back to this moment and whenever you are ready open your eyes and go on with your daily activities.
Thank you.
