A Breathing Anchor for Your Wandering Mind This mindfulness practice is your breathing anchor practice,
Where you root your awareness into the present moment like an anchor that roots a ship to one place.
This will help you to dissolve anxiety,
Decrease stress,
And allow the body to heal in a relaxed,
Peaceful state.
So to begin,
Adopt as comfortable a position as possible.
It's often best to be sitting,
But you can do it in any posture,
Standing,
Lying,
Sitting,
Or even walking.
My guidance will assume you're sitting,
But adapt the instructions to whatever posture you've chosen.
Sitting with your back upright,
Get relaxed with your spine following its natural curves.
See if you can establish a position that feels dignified,
Alert,
And yet relaxed.
And allow your body to settle,
To rest down into gravity,
Letting it be supported by the floor beneath you,
And gently close your eyes if that's comfortable.
This will help your awareness settle by lessening external distractions.
Gradually,
Allow your awareness to gather around the sensations of the breath in your body.
Where do you feel the breath most strongly?
Be curious about your actual experience,
Letting go of what you think should be happening,
And being with your experience without judgment.
Very gently,
Rest your awareness within the whole torso.
Can you feel your belly swelling on the in-breath and subsiding on the out-breath?
Can you feel any movement and sensations with the breath in the sides and the back of the body as well?
Gradually,
Inhabit your body a little more deeply with a sense of kindly curiosity towards whatever it is you're experiencing as you breathe.
Remember to be accepting,
Accepting of whatever's happening.
See if you can cultivate a precise awareness of the sensations and movement of the breath in the body as they happen,
Moment by moment,
Being careful not to strain.
Allow your awareness to be utterly receptive as it rests upon the natural movement of the breath in the body.
Allow the breath to be saturated with kindliness as it rocks and cradles the body,
Soothing any stress,
Pain,
Or discomfort you may feel.
Now become aware of any thoughts and emotions.
Remember that mindfulness isn't about having a blank mind.
It's normal to think.
Mindfulness is the training whereby you cultivate awareness of what is actually happening physically,
Mentally,
And emotionally,
So you can gradually change your perspective and feel you have more choice in how you relate to life.
Can you look at your thoughts and emotions rather than from them?
Can you be aware of what you're thinking and feeling without either blocking experience or getting overwhelmed by it?
And remember,
Thoughts are not facts,
Even though we often think that they are.
As you develop perspective on your thoughts and emotions,
Including undermining ones,
Can you let go of being so caught up in them?
Notice how they're continually changing one moment to the next,
Exactly the same way your breath is always changing.
Your thoughts and emotions are not as fixed and solid as you perhaps thought.
Using awareness of the movement and sensations of the breath in your body as an anchor for the mind over and over again,
Follow the breath all the way in and all the way out.
Each time your awareness wanders,
As it will,
Simply notice this and return to the breathing anchor time after time,
Moment by moment,
Making sure you're very kind and patient with yourself,
Even if you have to start again a hundred times.
It's okay.
That is what the training is all about.
And remember that each time you notice you've wandered is a magic moment of awareness,
A moment where you've woken up from a distraction,
A moment of choice.
So when you catch yourself having wandered off,
You're succeeding in the practice just as you're succeeding when you manage to stay with the breath.
What's happening now?
What are you thinking?
Just note this and guide your awareness back to the sensation of the breath in the body over and over again.
Now gently begin to bring the breathing anchor practice to a close,
Opening your eyes and be aware of the sounds around you inside and outside the room.
Feel your whole body and gradually,
Gently begin to move,
Making sure you give yourself time to make a smooth transition from the breathing anchor practice to whatever you're doing next.
