And welcome to this meditation.
A meditation when you're worrying about a challenge or a problem.
It's called the Don't Know Mind meditation.
And starting by taking a comfortable seated position in a chair or on a cushion,
Just whatever's comfortable for you right now.
And keeping your head unsupported to keep you awake.
And hands can be in your lap or on your legs.
And if you'd like to,
Gently closing down the eyes now.
If you'd rather not just keep a soft,
Gentle,
Low gaze.
And your spine should feel dignified but not straining.
Relax posture.
And taking in a few deep belly breaths now.
Maybe even sigh out the exhale.
Sigh out some of your worry.
And returning to your normal breath now.
Knowing you can use the breath as an anchor through your practice if you get lost in thought.
Just return to the breath.
And then re-enter the practice wherever you're up to.
And taking a moment to let yourself fully sit in this moment.
Not so distracted by thoughts of the past or plans for the future but just in this moment in the now.
And using your senses to help you stay here.
So noticing any sounds you can hear.
Anything you can see either through your gentle gaze or in that space behind your closed eyes.
Noticing what you can smell and what you can taste.
And then noticing what you can feel.
So notice the feeling of the air on your face and hands,
The clothes on your back.
And then seeing if you can allow yourself to drop down into your body a little.
Moving through different parts of the body.
Just observing them,
Being curious about them.
How are they feeling right now?
What can you notice?
So start with your feet.
Your toes,
The soles of your feet,
The tops of your feet and your ankles.
Just holding them in gentle awareness.
And moving up through the lower legs.
Observing this part of the body.
And moving up to the knees.
And then taking your attention up through the tops of the legs to land at the pelvis and the hips and the bottom and the sit bones.
And taking your awareness on the bottom of the spine up through the lower back and mid back,
The shoulders and the neck.
Up through the skull and the crown of the head and the scalp.
And down to the forehead.
And noticing the eyebrows and the eye sockets and the eyeballs.
Noticing your cheeks.
Noticing your jaw.
Noticing your teeth and your tongue.
Noticing the space in front of your ears.
The cartilage at the top of the ears.
The ear lobes.
If you have pierced ears you might even notice the ear lobes.
And the inner ear.
And then the space behind the ears.
And noticing if the body feels any differently after spending a few minutes connecting with the various parts.
And noticing if there's any where that needs a little bit more attention.
And take your attention to those parts now.
And turning your attention to the other parts.
And turning your attention to a problem you have in life.
A challenge you're facing.
A worry that you have about the future.
It might be relating to yourself.
It might be relating to your children,
Your partner,
Your friend,
Your work.
Just bring to mind an issue that you find yourself spending a lot of time worrying about.
And as you bring this issue to mind notice what emotions arise for you.
Maybe worry or anxiety or grief or dread.
And see if you can notice what these emotions feel like.
And there's pure physical sensations in the body.
So where do you feel this emotion in your body?
And what does it feel like?
Is it heavy?
Is it light?
Is it buzzing?
Is it moving?
Is it moving through your body or stuck in one place?
And if you could give it a colour what would it be?
Or a shape?
A texture?
And as you bring this challenge or worry to the front of your mind just going to say to yourself a few times over when it comes to this issue,
When it comes to how it's going to work out,
Will it be this or will it be that?
For today,
For tomorrow,
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
And that's okay.
For today and for tomorrow,
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
And that's okay.
For today and for tomorrow,
I don't know.
I don't know.
And that's okay.
For today and for tomorrow,
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
And that's okay.
For today and for tomorrow,
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
And that's okay.
For today and for tomorrow,
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
And that's okay.
And just letting go of that little mantra.
Just sitting for a moment or two and letting the effects of the practice settle.
A little bit more here.
And gently beginning your return to the room taking in a couple of deep breaths and bringing your attention back to sounds to smells and to taste and then starting to gently wake the body up you might like to give it a bit of a shake,
A stretch and notice how you feel after spending a little bit of time trying to talk yourself into acceptance of uncertainty and seeing how that sits with you and congratulating yourself for dedicating time today to healthily think through some challenges to spend some time in silence to see what comes up for you very very well done you you
