Get Better At Feeling And Noticing

This meditation invites you to deepen your awareness of subtle sensations, emotions, and thoughts as they arise. Through gentle guidance, you’ll learn to slow down, tune in, and cultivate a more sensitive connection with your inner experience.

Perfect for enhancing mindfulness and emotional intelligence, this practice helps you become more present, perceptive, and attuned to yourself and the world around you.

Transcript

Please find a comfortable position in your chair. Sit upright, With your feet flat on the floor, Your arms and legs uncrossed, And your hands resting in your lap, Palms up or down, Whichever is more comfortable. Allow your eyes to close gently. Take a few moments to get in touch with the movement of your breath and the sensations in the body. Bring your awareness to the physical sensations in your body, Especially to the sensations of touch or pressure where your body makes contact with the chair or floor. Now slowly bring your attention to the gentle rising and falling of your breath in your chest and belly. Like ocean waves coming in and out, Your breath is always there. Notice its rhythm in your body. Notice each breath. Focus on each inhale and exhale. Notice the changing patterns of sensations in your belly as you breathe in and as you breathe out. Take a few moments to feel the physical sensations as you breathe in and breathe out. There is no need to try to control your breathing in any way. Simply let the breath breathe itself. As best you can, Also bring this attitude of generous allowing and gentle acceptance to the rest of your experience. There is nothing to be fixed, No particular state to be achieved. As best you can, Simply allow your experience to be your experience without needing it to be other than what it is. Sooner or later, Your mind will wander away from the breath to other concerns, Worries, Images, Bodily sensations, Planning or daydreams, Or it may just drift along. This is what minds do much of the time. When you notice that your mind has wandered, Gently congratulate yourself. You have come back and are once more aware of your experience. You may want to acknowledge briefly where your mind has been. Ah, There's thinking, Or oh, There is feeling. Then gently escort your attention back to the sensation of the breath coming in and going out. As best you can, Bring a quality of kindness and compassion to your awareness, Perhaps seeing the repeated wanderings of your mind as opportunities to bring patience and gentle curiosity to your experience. When you become aware of bodily sensations and feelings, Tension, Or other intense sensations in a particular part of your body, Just notice them, Acknowledge their presence, And see if you can make space for them. Do not try to hold on to them or make them go away. See if you can open your heart and make some room for the discomfort, For the tension, For the anxiety. Just allowing them to be there. Is there enough space in you to welcome all of your experience? Watch the sensations change from moment to moment. Sometimes they grow stronger, Sometimes they stay the same, And sometimes they grow weaker. It does not matter. Breathe calmly into and out from the sensations of discomfort, Imagining the breath moving into and out from that region of the body. Remember, Your intention is not to make you feel better, But to get better at feeling and noticing. Now stay with your experience in this same way for as long as you'd like, Noticing the movements of the breath with a gentle attitude of intention and care.