10-Minute Shamatha Practice

10-Minute Shamatha guided meditation practice with Jenna Hollenstein. Jenna Hollenstein, MS, RD, CDN, is a nutrition therapist, meditation teacher, and author. Her work combines intuitive eating, trauma-sensitive mindfulness, polyvagal theory, and other embodied modalities. Her latest books include Eat to Love: A Mindful Guide to Transforming Your Relationship with Food, Body, and Life and Intuitive Eating for Life: How Mindfulness Can Deepen and Sustain Your Intuitive Eating Practice.

Transcript

So let's begin with a practice.

So find a comfortable seat,

Whatever that means for you today,

And find that balance of relaxation and upliftedness,

Or rest and effort.

We talk a lot in Buddhist practices about the middle way,

Sort of not too tight,

Not too loose.

Sometimes I talk about that river described by Dan Siegel with chaos on one side and rigidity on the other.

All of these are just useful analogies,

Images to help us find that balance,

That middle way.

And just notice what that feels like today.

What does that balance feel like today?

We welcome the body as it is,

The breath as it is,

And the mind as it is.

So breathe normally in and out through the nose.

Let the eyes rest open gently with a downward gaze so that you're taking in the full visual field without really staring at anything.

And place your mind's attention on the feeling of the breath,

The texture,

The temperature,

The sensation of the breath coming in through the nose and going out through the nose,

Or however you need to breathe if your nose is blocked for some reason.

As we're working with feeling our fullness,

Emphasis can be on feeling.

And our practice,

This meditation practice can be thought of as a reminder of how to feel.

And as you feel your breath,

You can let your mind be just as it is.

And depending on how that is today,

It might seem harder to stay with the feeling of the breath,

But that's okay.

The more we practice,

The more we collect a variety of states and experiences.

Sometimes it feels easier,

Sometimes it feels harder.

Do your best to both feel your breath and let the mind be as it is,

Letting thoughts come and go on their own.

If you get absorbed in thought and lose all connection with the feeling of the breath,

That is also fine.

It's an important part of the practice,

In fact.

So just acknowledge it whenever it is that you realize it.

Let it go.

Come back and begin again to feel the breath and let the mind be.

Please bring your practice to a close.

Thank you so much for sitting together.