Start this meditation with finding a middle ground between comfortable relaxation on one end and then on the other end,
Some curiosity,
Some alertness.
So you want to find a middle ground.
You don't want to be too relaxed where you'll be falling asleep and dozing off.
But you also don't want to be too tense,
Too alert,
Too strained.
It's an opportunity to,
A rare opportunity to fully relax and not have anywhere to go or any tasks to accomplish.
Allow yourself to breathe normally.
There's no need to do any deep breathing or slow breathing here.
It's allowing the body to breathe,
Allowing the body to breathe itself.
And I invite you to start to notice your body.
Maybe there are places that are tense,
So maybe you carried some tension in with you into the room where you're meditating.
Maybe you've been carrying that tension throughout the day and here's an opportunity to release.
So the shoulders,
If you're sitting,
Should be back and down.
You can relax the muscles in the stomach.
That's a particular hot spot for tension for a lot of us.
Maybe the hands,
You can release there.
Release the grip that you've been carrying around with you today.
And as you release these areas of the body and relax a little bit more into the moment here,
Start to notice the sensations that come online,
Sort of new feelings that are pulsing through your body as you release.
It could be tingling,
Could be warmth,
Could be coolness.
Just notice.
And now bring your attention to the place in your body where you most feel yourself breathing.
So this could be the lungs expanding and contracting as you breathe in and out.
It could be the air traveling down your throat or through your sinuses.
It could be the air on the tip of your nose as you breathe in and breathe out.
And you might notice that the air is cool on the way in and then warm on the way out.
Notice something about the breath,
A place in the body where you feel the aliveness of the breath and its rhythm.
And attend to it.
Put your mind there and just watch what's going on.
You'll soon notice that the mind wanders away from this place in the body,
That it's actually pretty difficult to keep the mind focused on one place,
Particularly something that's not extremely interesting,
Extremely engaging like the breath.
So when you notice that you're off in a quote unquote virtual reality,
Or you're thinking about the past or the future,
Or you're worrying about something that,
You know,
Might happen later today,
Or maybe you're replaying a memory from yesterday,
And you're lost in thought,
When your mind is moved away from that place in your body that you can feel your breath,
Just let go of those thoughts.
Let go of the story.
Let go of the virtual reality and bring your attention back to that place in your body.
And this should be done with a gentle hand.
You're sort of guiding yourself back,
Not forcing yourself back.
You're just opening up into being curious again about what it feels like to breathe in that place in your body,
Your lungs,
Your throat,
Your nose,
Whatever it is.
Keep coming back.
Keep bringing the mind's attention back to that place in your body,
And also avoid the tendency to be hard on yourself,
To judge yourself that you are having trouble paying attention to this part in your body.
That's how the mind works.
It's almost constantly escaping the present moment,
Leaving the present moment and going into the past or the future.
So you almost want to see those moments where you're lost in thought and then you notice it.
You sort of witness.
You're able to see that you've left the present moment as an opportunity to practice.
It's actually a good thing to realize that.
So there's no need to be hard on ourselves or be overly critical,
You know,
Thinking,
I'm not a good meditator,
Something like that.
Just simply notice and then again,
Gently guide the attention back and then wait for that next opportunity to come.
Keep attending to the breath.
At this point,
You might be feeling a little bit more open,
A little bit more calm,
A little bit more relaxed.
Maybe you're more in touch with how your body's feeling.
If it feels useful,
If it feels additionally calm,
If it doesn't feel like it's throwing you off,
Start to open to the sounds around you.
Start to be curious about the noise in the room or maybe outside of the room.
Or if you're outside,
The noise is off in the distance.
And there's no doing in listening.
It's more about receiving the noise.
And you might try to think of sound as a continuous chain of noise.
There's nothing to figure out.
And the problem to solve is just noise.
Start to allow that into the picture here for you.
Again,
If it's helpful.
And as your mind begins to wander,
As it inevitably will,
Just bring it back to that place in your body where you feel yourself breathing,
Or you can bring it to the sound.
So whatever is happening right now in the present moment,
Just keep opening and bringing yourself and bringing your mind back to it.
And in a moment when the bell rings,
Just notice the sound like you would a noise in the room or a bird chirping outside of the window.
Again,
Just another sound within this continuous flow of noise.
And then open your eyes when you feel ready and go on about your day.
Impossible!
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