Smartphone Meditation

This meditation is designed to help people have a healthier relationship with their smartphone. In this practice, we will apply mindfulness meditation techniques to understand the effects of smartphone use and to change habitual behaviors. The meditation is done with a smartphone, so please have one available to use during the meditation.

It may help to have this guided meditation playing on a separate device if possible.

Transcript

So we'll begin by re-establishing our connection with the body, So feeling the contact with the floor, Noting the sensations happening throughout the body, Allowing the breath to deepen a bit, Relaxing any tensions or holding in the belly, Chest, Shoulders, Back that's preventing a full relaxed in-breath and out-breath, Allowing near and distant sounds to continue and not fighting with any mental content, Trying to push away thoughts or moods or patterns or trying to cling to others. As you continue to breathe into a relaxed body and a sense of the space and sounds surrounding you, You might just notice the tactile sense of the phone in the hands, So you can turn the phone over or note the surfaces, Just experiencing it through the sensation of touch without any particular goal in mind, So sensing the weight, Just inspecting as if an alien, Some visitor to this mind-body space, Who has no idea what this object is, So sensing the shape, Hardness, Weight, Surfaces and then coming to rest and just seeing how it is to hold this object. You may notice of that exploring of the tactile sense led to any proliferation in the mind or any return of tension in the body, Noticing if the mind is moving into judgments or storylines of some kind, Allowing those to pass without forcing, Returning to the body and a sense of this object as a neutral weighted presence in the hands and again sensing whatever mood or state of mind is present, Patterns of thought or judgment or arising, Just noting what's here or noting if there's relative quiet in the mind, Remaining present in the body, Slowly opening the eyes, Looking downward at the object and unlocking the phone and just looking at the home screen and noticing whatever associations or feelings or thoughts arise when viewing that image or information that's present, Photo or image, Message or news, Noticing whether there's an inclination to find something out or proceed in a habitual way and just pausing for a moment to notice the inclination of behavior and now allowing yourself to open whatever app or function is typical or that you're inclined to right now in this moment, Whether it's social media or text messaging or some other often used application, Opening whatever that is and allowing yourself to engage in some kind of interaction, Whether it's sending a message, Returning a message, Scrolling through a feed, Checking for some information, Allowing yourself to proceed as you might typically do even if the practice container makes it feel unusual. After you've engaged with this for a few moments, Relocking the phone and closing the eyes again, Returning to the starting posture of the phone as an object in the hands, Again sensing the weight of this object, Size and shape, Reconnecting with the breath and body, Sensing the space and the sounds and sensing also what's happening in the mind, Having just left the embodied world for the virtual and then returned, Noticing if there's any change in the body, Tensions or change in posture, If there's any shift in the mind, The direction of thought has changed in some way, Examining the mood or emotional content while placing the phone down within reaching distance but out of the hands, Taking a few full breaths and back into full presence and now reaching for the phone but just short of grasping or picking up, Stopping, Allowing the hand to be near the object just as you would before picking up, Now seeing if you can fully relax the body in this juncture between the embodied world and the virtual, The body at rest and the seeking of distraction or connection or some type of fulfillment, Relaxing the hand and slowly coming back to sitting, Full in-breath, Full out-breath, Fully re-inhabiting the body contact with the floor, Allowing sounds, Aware of whatever pattern or conversation or story is surfacing in the mind, If there is, Noticing if there's agitation or judgment, Widening the container of awareness to accept these as well, Knowing how it is to be present with this ever-changing unfolding of experience, Seeing if it's possible to experience a contentment that is accepting of imperfection, Allowing life to be as it is.