Being Like The Unbounded Sky

This guided mindfulness meditation invites you to observe how thoughts are alive and appear by themselves in the space of the mind, just like clouds in the sky, and to be like the unbounded sky that gives space and allows any and all clouds to exist. This practice is an invitation to become spacious and disentangled from identification with thoughts.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to meditation.

So let's begin by,

As always,

Bringing the attention to the present moment.

And to do that,

We can always use what's present in your body,

In your breath.

So you can find a position that feels comfortable,

That you're not going to be inclined to keep moving all the time and adjusting.

Just find the position that,

For now,

You feel is going to be comfortable.

And you can close your eyes if that feels safe and good.

Or just gaze down if that's better for you.

And as you begin the practice,

Just start by noticing your body in space.

You might feel the heaviness of the body or the places where the body connects with the surface,

Maybe the chair,

The floor.

And feeling the body in space includes feeling the space as well.

Noticing there is space.

There's a sense of space.

And there's a sense of a body within that space.

And notice in your own body,

If there's any part of the body that feels tensed up,

Notice that there's nothing you need to do about it.

Just observe.

And as you observe your body,

Notice what happens with just observing it.

When you bring your consciousness,

Your awareness,

To your body,

What happens?

And the invitation is to continue to watch,

To observe,

Be aware of your body.

Maybe feeling the breath as you breathe,

Noticing where in the body you can feel the breath.

Maybe there is a part of your body that you feel the breath most easily.

And maybe you notice a part of your body itching or urging to move.

And before you reach to scratch or to move,

Notice the sensation just prior to that,

The urge.

How does it feel?

To want to move?

To move?

Is there a want?

And if you decide to move,

Scratch or whatever,

Do that with mindfulness.

Do that feeling each part of the movement as you move.

And continue to watch your body to notice what becomes present.

Where does the attention go?

Is there a specific part of the body?

And what happens when you bring awareness?

And the same way that you can feel the body in space,

I'm going to invite you to notice thoughts in the space.

Noticing that thoughts come into your mind,

The space of your mind,

The space of your consciousness.

And they have a lifespan.

They come in,

They have that thought,

It says something and they go away.

And depending on the kind of thought,

It might trigger a sensation in the body,

An emotion.

What happens if you just watch,

Notice thoughts coming into the space of your mind,

Just as like clouds come into the space of the sky without engaging.

Just like the sky does not identify with the cloud,

It doesn't say,

I am the cloud now.

Or yeah,

I am the cloud.

No,

It's just the space where the cloud comes in.

The space of your mind is exactly like the space of the sky.

And notice when you hear that,

When you feel your mind like the sky,

Infinite space of the sky.

How does it feel?

How does the body react to the mind being spacious like the sky?

And I'm going to invite you to continue to watch the space of your mind,

This infinite sky of the mind,

And to notice the next cloud that comes in,

The next thought that pops into the mind.

And notice that there's no need to interact with the thought,

Just to allow the cloud to be in the sky.

And just keep watching the cloud,

Keep watching the thought without pushing it away,

Without grasping and identifying.

Just being like the infinite sky of your mind,

Allowing the clouds to come,

Have their formation,

Their expression,

And also to fade away in their own time.

And all you do is just watch.

Watch.

What's the next cloud that's gonna pass in the sky of your mind?

Keep waiting,

Watching curiously to the next thought.

And as soon as the thought comes in,

Notice how much that thought creates an identification,

How much you believe,

How much it feels like it's you thinking,

When in reality you're watching the thinking happening.

And thoughts come in without any control on your part,

Just like the sky is not controlling the clouds,

Just allowing them to be there.

The invitation the invitation is for you to be like the sky.

Notice that your mind is like a sky,

Boundless,

Infinite,

Where clouds can pop in and fade away.

And sometimes the identification with the thought happens and all of a sudden we are not the sky of the mind,

We are the cloud contracted in that thought as if that is us.

And the invitation is to realize that you're bigger,

That you're the sky where thoughts,

Where clouds come in.

And any type of cloud can be in the sky.

The sky does not say no to any kind of cloud,

Even if it is a cloud full of rain and dark,

Heavy,

The sky just holds the space and allows whatever cloud to be there because it's not identified with the cloud.

So,

Any time that you feel you've identified with the cloud,

With the thought,

The invitation is to recognize and look at the cloud directly,

Look at the thought.

And as soon as you look,

There's you and there's the thought.

And if there's you and the thought,

The invitation is to become like the sky and allow the cloud to be there.

If it is still there,

Just give the space for whatever thought to come and to also go,

No matter the thought,

Be like the sky,

Open,

Vast,

Ungraspable,

Unlimited,

Infinite.

The space where clouds can be there and it's not affecting the sky,

It doesn't make the sky less sky,

Less infinite,

Less open.

And keep watching,

Keep holding the space that allows the clouds to come and go.

And become curious to what kind of clouds are coming,

What is the next thought that pops into your mind,

Into the vast,

Infinite space of the mind.

Maybe it's something in the mind,

A cloud that says,

I need to do that.

And notice that it's not you saying that,

It's a thought coming in saying that.

You watch it and continue to be curious,

Amazed by how many thoughts can come into your mind,

Can be held in the infinite space of your sky-like mind.

Notice what is the thought,

The cloud,

Forming right now without any control.

Thoughts just come in,

Pop in,

And notice that you're the one giving space to all of the thoughts.

You are the one being the space.

You are the space where all thoughts pop in,

Pure consciousness,

Without any identification with any kind of thought.

But if identification still happens,

Just know that's quite common.

It has been trained for a long time.

And as soon as you notice,

You've identified with a thought and started to engage and feel like it's you saying,

You talking.

Just notice,

Look at the thought.

Look at the thought.

As soon as you notice,

Look directly into the thought and notice what happens when you look at it.

There's no need or desire to identify,

To continue the engagement with the narrative of the thought or to push away the kind of thought that came.

When you're just holding space and allowing the thought and being aware of it,

What happens?

Keep waiting for the next thought.

Curiously,

There's another cloud forming in the sky,

And allowing the cloud to come and to fade,

Dissipate in the sky in its own time.

Nothing to do about the cloud,

But to watch,

To allow and watch.

Keep watching as the sky,

Keep being the space where thoughts come in.

Vastness,

Boundless space where any cloud can just come in.

And if you're entangled with your thoughts,

The invitation is to first acknowledge how the mind has been trained,

The attention that you are has been trained to identify with the thoughts,

Knowing that's common,

That's normal,

And there's no need to judge.

And every time you notice you're entangled in the thought,

Identified with it,

Running with it,

Running with it,

Its narrative,

Look at the thought.

Pause the narrative and just look at the thought without trying to do anything with it or about it,

Simply allowing the thought to be there as you watch it.

And as we begin to wrap up this practice,

I'm going to invite you to again feel the body and the space that the body is in.

Notice the sense of space is still there,

And there is a body,

A sense of a body in the space.

And maybe you can feel again the weight of the body,

The gravity bringing the body down towards the earth.

Maybe you feel the contact between your body and the chair.

Maybe you feel sensations in your body,

Maybe a tangling or an itch or a warmth,

Whatever that might be.

Feel your body,

What's inside.

Feel the contact of the body with the floor through your feet.

Notice this breath you're taking in right now.

Feel the air coming through the nostrils,

Going out.

And when you feel ready,

You can open your eyes again.

Reviews

While doing this meditation, it began to rain gently and then began to downpour. Loud thunder! So many clouds 😊 And in all the years that I have been practicing meditation, the mind like sky and thoughts like clouds metaphor landed in a new way. Something shifted in me. I’m deeply grateful for all of your meditations here on Insight Timer. They are some of my favorites. Thank you so much for this one 🙏🏼