Welcome to sitting meditation and starting your practice today by congratulating yourself that you are dedicating some precious time to meditate.
And may you know on a deeper level this is an act of self-care.
Now that you've found a comfortable place to sit and as you begin to stop and become present,
Become aware of the body and mind and whatever is being carried within you.
Perhaps there are feelings or thoughts from the events of the day or past week or from whatever has been going on with you recently.
Simply allowing and acknowledging whatever is within and just let it be without any form of analysis or evaluation.
Gradually shifting your focus now to your breathing.
And breathing in,
Breathing out,
Normally and naturally.
As you breathe in,
Be aware of breathing in.
And as you breathe out,
Be aware of breathing out.
You can focus your breath awareness either at the tip of the nose or the abdomen.
If focusing at the nose,
Feel the sensation of air as you breathe in and out.
If focusing on the abdomen,
Feel the belly expanding with each inhalation and contracting with each exhalation.
Just living life one inhalation and one exhalation at a time.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Watching each breath appear and disappear.
Just breathing moment by moment by moment.
This is actually called anchoring in the breath.
And you can always simply rest here in breath awareness.
This helps with grounding and centering in the present moment.
Now gently releasing awareness of your breathing as you begin to bring your attention to the present moment itself as the primary object of attention.
This object of awareness for sitting practice is also known as choiceless awareness.
Choiceless awareness invites you to become mindful of whatever is arising in the unfolding of each moment.
In the body and in the mind,
Whether sensations,
Sounds,
Other sensory experiences,
Or a flurry of thoughts or emotions.
Just sitting here and watching the ever shifting tides of mind and body.
Although you may be still,
Your internal experience is quite different.
Your body and mind combine to form a dynamic organism interacting with stimuli from the senses and the mind.
Stimuli that are constantly changing.
This practice is analogous to sitting by the edge of a river just watching whatever goes downstream.
Sometimes there are sounds,
Sometimes sensations,
Sometimes thoughts,
And sometimes emotions.
If nothing much is occurring,
You can always come back to anchoring in the breath.
Just sitting right now,
Being a witness to the sea change of your mind and body.
As you learn to give space to whatever is arising inside with equanimity and balance,
You can begin to go with the flow.
Instead of fighting or resisting what's there,
You'll come to understand and deeply know that all things change.
Even if you are experiencing storms of anxiety,
Pain,
Sadness,
Anger,
Or confusion,
Or perhaps especially at these times,
You will know that by giving these feelings space,
They will gradually diminish.
So,
Moving into silence and being fully present on your own,
Just being present as best as you can,
Moment by moment.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
As we near the end of this practice,
Withdrawing from choiceless awareness and come back to your breathing,
Feeling the whole body as you breathe in and breathe out.
Feel the entire body rising upward on an inhalation and falling downward on an exhalation.
Feel the body as a single,
Complete organism,
Connected and whole.
May you again congratulate yourself for practicing and knowing that it is contributing to your health and well-being.
Silence.
