MBSR: Moving Towards Choice-Less Awareness

Short version of the MBSR Sitting Meditation. This meditation guides through meditation on breathing, sounds, thinking, emotions and into choiceless awareness. It is ideal for when 45 minutes is more than you can do.

Transcript

So I'd like to invite you to get comfortable,

Perhaps sitting on your cushion or in a chair,

With the back upright,

Finding a position that supports a feeling of dignity and stability,

Balancing the weight on the sit bones.

Comfortable,

Relaxed,

Yet alert.

Then you might choose to close the eyes,

Or you might leave them open with the gaze soft and the eyes gazing towards the ground.

And as you sit,

You might become aware that there's a body sitting here,

Breathing.

And you might begin to observe the natural breath,

Just the way it is,

Without trying to control or change.

Just being aware of this process that occurs without even trying.

And so with the attention,

You might follow the in-breath in and the out-breath out,

Becoming aware of the movement of the breath.

Following the in-breath in and noticing how the belly rises and noticing how it falls again as the breath flows out.

You may notice sensations of warmth or cool at the nostrils as the air flows in and as the air flows out.

And so finding wherever it is that you feel the breath best and bringing the attention to that place,

As best you can,

Holding the attention there.

And following the in-breath in and perhaps noticing the slight pause at the end of the in-breath right before it becomes an out-breath.

And following the out-breath out and again the slight pause before it becomes an in-breath again.

And so you've attached the attention to the breath.

And so you might discover relatively quickly that it's quite difficult to keep the attention at the breath.

Thoughts arise,

Sounds,

Distractions pulling the attention from the breath.

And if you find that this is true for you,

It's good to know that this is normal.

This is just how the brain works.

And so each time the attention is carried away,

When you become aware of it,

Noticing where it's gone and then bringing the attention back to the breath.

And you're not looking to create any particular sensation here or mood.

You're just observing the way things are,

The flow of the breath,

Each breath different than the last.

LI And if the attention's wandered off,

Noticing where it's gone and gently guiding it back to the breath,

The sensations of breathing,

Wherever you feel them best.

The attention is similar to a puppy or a kitten.

It's always playing,

Always wandering away,

And your job is to gently guide it back to wherever you want it to be.

In this case,

The sensations of breathing.

It's always playing,

Always wandering away,

And your job is to gently guide it back to wherever you want it to be.

You can also bring the attention to other senses,

For example,

The hearing.

So you might begin to become aware of the sounds around you.

And you may notice the mind's tendency to attach stories to sounds.

So there's a sound,

And before you know it,

There's a name for whatever caused the sound and a story that goes with it.

In here,

The intention is to,

As best you can,

Just notice the sound,

Allowing sounds to come and go.

Something sounds far away,

And perhaps sounds to your left or your right.

Perhaps sounds above,

Or in front,

Or behind you.

You may even become aware of the space in between sounds.

Becoming aware of sounds close by.

And even closer,

For example,

The beating of your heart,

Or the sound of your breath.

And then allowing the attention to settle again on the breath,

The sensations of breathing,

Wherever you feel them best.

And in the same way you can register sounds,

You can also register thoughts,

Thinking.

And here a metaphor can be helpful.

So you might imagine that you're lying in the grass,

Staring up at the sky,

Watching clouds.

Now some days the sky is full of clouds,

And some days there's only one or two.

Some days the clouds are gray and dark,

Ominous.

And some days they're light and fluffy,

Just floating by.

And they may be moving fast,

Or they may be moving very slow.

And as you lay in the grass,

You just watch the conditions of the sky,

Allowing clouds to come and go.

And it can also be helpful to label thoughts.

So you might say,

Ah,

To-do list,

Or thoughts about the past,

Or worry,

Or gratitude.

Or if the mind is quite busy,

You might say,

Lots of thoughts.

And so in this way you can allow thoughts to come and go,

Passing through without getting stuck in the contents of the thought.

And you may find that some thoughts are so strong that they carry you off into the stream of thinking,

And that you get lost in the contents of the thoughts.

And then you can always return to the breath,

Using the sensations of breathing as an anchor.

And so doing that now,

Allowing the attention to return to the breath.

And so in the same way as you've registered sounds and observed thoughts,

You can also observe emotions,

Moods,

The feeling tone of your experience.

And you might even notice that a mood comes with particular thoughts,

Or perhaps that it has a place in the body.

And if it does have a place in the body,

You can always breathe with it.

And then when it feels right to you,

Returning the attention back to the breath.

Now in the final few minutes,

I'd like to invite you to sit with whatever it is that arises in the moment.

It might be a sound.

It might be a thought or an emotion.

Because if you're watching a play,

Allow whatever it is to take center stage,

Until the next thing takes its place.

And so sitting this way,

And open attention.

And if at any point it becomes too much,

You can always return to the breath,

Using the breath as an anchor.

And then when you're ready,

Opening the attention again for whatever takes center stage.

So I invite you to play with this in the last few minutes of silence,

Until you hear my voice again,

Guiding the exercise to a close.

I apologize for this хозяi Thank you.

Thank you.

And then wherever the attention is now,

Guiding it back to the breath.

Aware of the sensations of breathing.

Aware of the contact between the body and whatever it is you're sitting on.

Becoming aware again of the room around you.

And thanking yourself for taking this time to stop.

Practicing being with whatever arises,

With whatever is,

Right now.

And trusting too that this will have an impact on how you are with whatever arises in your daily life.

Be it big or small.

Reviews

Excellent gentle guidance. Beautifully paced. Thank you! 🙏

Wonderfully gentle voice, and wise, gentle guidance. I love that there’s no hint of harshness or impatience here.

This is really good. Thank you.🕊️

You have a soothing voice. I’d like to have a little less guidance and more quiet time between your guiding

Softening presence. Thank you 🙏

Very skilful…ThankyouandBless 🧸

Excellent

thank you for rhe guidance and for the silences to practice the technique

Thank you Chris, this is powerful. Unfortunate about the abrupt ending. ✌️❤️🔆

Very nice voice and a lovely meditation, thank you.

Allowing whatever is to take Center Stage- ah, an interesting way to open awareness!

Very happy and grateful to have discovered you here on IT. Love your calm guidance throughout the exercise. I will check out your other work here. Meanwhile thanks again....

I felt grounded and centred simply in the awareness of breath..I will return to this meditation and will carry your voice with me today..thank you 💛