This practice encourages you to sit and rest in stillness and has longer periods of silence.
Over time and with consistent practice,
You're developing your ability to recognize your patterns.
You wise up to yourself.
You see things more as they are.
Learning to pay attention to your heart and mind builds self-awareness.
With more awareness you get to decide how you work with your thoughts,
Emotions,
Feelings,
And urges when they arise.
This is what makes mindfulness truly transformative.
So begin in your usual balanced upright position,
Hands resting gently,
And remind yourself of your intention for your practice,
The positive benefits for yourself and others.
And gently close your eyes or gaze down and let the vision blur and take three slow deep breaths and know that you're sitting.
Feel into your body and let it soften and relax.
Allowing your breathing to just settle back to its natural rhythm.
Observing the breath flying in and out.
And become aware of your physical body and any sensations that are present in your body.
You might want to do a gentle body scan from your head to your toes.
Just notice,
Relax,
Settle.
Now open your awareness to your feeling center,
Your throat,
Chest,
Solar plexus,
Lower abdomen.
Ask yourself,
How am I feeling?
If you find there's an area which feels more intense or vulnerable,
Just allow yourself to sit with those feelings and sensations.
Notice the story you might have around that.
Could you hold it a little more lightly?
Acknowledge it.
Breathe with it.
Notice the feelings around it.
Hold it in awareness with a kind curiosity.
And feel the flow of your breathing in the background.
If you get distracted,
Bring your attention back to your next breath,
Into your feeling center,
Or a bodily sensation.
Now open your awareness to the whole body.
Notice whatever is appearing in your awareness in this moment.
Could be your breath,
Sounds,
Physical sensations,
Or an underlying emotion that's present.
Just notice whatever arrives.
Simply be aware and rest here,
Letting things come and go.
And when the mind wanders,
Anchor yourself with your meditation object,
The breath,
The body.
And when you notice your mind has wandered and you've become distracted,
Take a moment to feel into your attitude.
Are you judging yourself for losing concentration?
It's easy to criticize,
Oh there I go again.
But instead of being harsh with yourself,
Acknowledge it as a moment of being present.
And focus your attention on the experience of waking up rather than on the experience of having been lost.
Notice the subtle difference this makes to your practice.
Stalking Continue bringing your attention back.
And as you come to the end of your practice,
Consider taking this feeling of spacious awareness and stillness with you into your day.
It's always available to you.
Use it to remind you to bring your attention back to whatever you're doing,
Wherever you are.
Now when you're ready,
In your own time,
End your practice.
Now when you're ready,
In your own time,
End your practice.
