Hello and welcome to meditation.
So let's begin the practice by finding a comfortable position for the body.
One that you feel that you can relax the muscles but you can still remain alert in your body.
So mainly your spine is going to be straight,
Your seat bones against the chair,
Your feet against the floor,
And as you sit down see if you can feel as you sit your whole spine growing up and the top of your head going up towards the ceiling.
And then you can close your eyes if that feels comfortable to you.
Relax your hands on your lips and start to feel the breath wherever you feel your breath in this moment.
What are the sensations of the breath for you that you can notice,
Feel,
Allow your attention to go in towards your breath and maybe thoughts will pop in and take the attention away.
And the invitation is to when that happens and you notice to acknowledge,
Notice the thought that took away your attention and bring the attention back to the breath to each sensation that you have of your breath and follow the breath noticing what happens in your body as you bring your attention to your breath.
Notice if there's any part of your body that feels contracted and notice if you can breathe in and out and invite relaxation to your body.
And as soon as you invite relaxation bring the attention back to your breath.
Notice where you feel your breath in your body right now and you might feel the breath in different places in your body or maybe one is more,
Is stronger so you can place your attention where you feel the breath is stronger in your body,
In your sensations.
Maybe again the mind came in and if it did just look,
Acknowledge,
Look at that again and kindly recognize the thought that took the attention and bring your attention back to your breath.
And I'm going to invite you to use the breath and the mind together.
So as you breathe in internally you say here and as you breathe out internally you say now.
As a way to anchor with the breath your mind in the present moment.
Breathing in here,
Feel what here is.
Breathing out now,
Feeling what now is.
And notice for how long your attention remains with this practice and as soon as you notice it's not anymore simply recognize without any judgment for not being with the practice anymore.
Just simply recognizing,
Oh the attention went away,
That's fine.
And bringing it back to this breath,
This inhale only,
Here,
This exhale now.
You might even notice that in one exhale that you take now is not just one,
There are many nows.
Now,
Now,
Now,
Now.
Same with here as you inhale here,
Here,
Here.
And you can repeat as many times as you can as you breathe in and out to remind your mind of this moment,
Of just this moment.
All we have,
All there is.
And notice again if the mind took away the attention or if not.
If you continue to pay attention to your breath and follow the breath with the mind saying here,
Now.
It's as if we are giving some constraint to the mind as we breathe in here,
Here,
Here.
As you breathe out now,
Now,
Now.
And allow your attention to without leaving your breath,
Sense your whole body and the sensation of being here now and knowing this is all there is.
Allowing yourself to be here now.
How does it feel in the body when you breathe in here?
How does it feel when you breathe out now?
And notice where your attention is right now.
Is it still with the breath?
Is the mind still thinking with the breath here,
Now?
And if it's not,
Not a problem.
Just smile to the situation if it's not.
Recognize the thought that took the attention away and teach your mind to refocus by simply and kindly bringing your attention back to your breath,
Breathing in here and breathing out now.
And as you breathe in here,
Feeling what here is.
As you breathe out now,
Feeling in your body what now is.
And notice where is your attention right now.
And every time you set yourself to notice where the attention is,
It's a moment of awareness,
A moment of recognizing where the attention is and kindly bringing it back,
Refocusing,
Little by little teaching the mind to focus with kindness,
Gentleness,
Without fighting with the mind,
But simply recognizing each time the mind wanders,
Noticing even the kind of thought that took the attention and without judging,
Condemning,
Just bringing the attention gently back to your breath,
Breathing in here and breathing out now.
And as we get to almost the end of this practice,
I invite you to spend the last minute focusing on your attention,
On your breath,
On here now,
Resting here now.
And you can open your eyes whenever you feel ready.
