Welcome everyone.
My name is Jonathan Burns.
Today I'd like to guide us through a short,
Simple,
Breath-focused meditation.
Before we begin,
Find a place that is relatively free of excess noise,
Private.
If you're sitting on the floor on a mat with your legs crossed,
Try to keep your hips above the level of your knees.
This encourages stability and comfort.
It helps you keep your spine erect,
But also active and not tense.
If you're in a chair,
Sit upright.
You can put your hands on your knees or in your lap.
In both cases,
Tilt the chin down just a little.
Before we begin,
I'd like to remind you that in this meditation,
We're not trying to stop our thoughts.
Just let the thoughts come and go.
The practice is to be aware when the mind is thinking,
To acknowledge it,
And then to refocus our attention back to an anchor point,
Our breath.
Now this can be the abdomen,
The rising and the falling of the belly,
Or we can use the area around the nose where we feel the inhalation and the exhalation.
I find for beginners,
It's easier to focus on the belly,
And I often still revert to that myself.
To begin,
Find your posture,
Start with the eyes open,
Take one deep good breath into the nose and out through the mouth.
And at the end of the breath,
Gently close your eyes.
Now bring your focus and awareness just to the pressure of the body sitting,
Knowing that you're sitting.
Feel the weight on the seat of the chair or the mat,
And the pressure of the body as it slowly begins to settle.
Allow the breath to rise and fall naturally.
Relax your stomach,
Relax the neck,
Relax your shoulders,
And relax the facial muscles,
Your cheeks,
Your eyebrows,
Your jaw.
And as you sit,
Just become aware of the sensation of breathing.
Gently bring your focus to that anchor point of the breath,
The rising and the falling of the belly,
Or the in-breath and the out-breath at the tip of the nose.
Allow the breath to find its own natural rhythm,
Maintaining an awareness that the body is breathing.
Allow your focus to settle on the breath.
Now if you find that the mind has wandered,
Be aware of thinking.
We're not worried about the content of the thought,
Just the experience of thinking itself.
Acknowledge that the mind is thinking.
We can label this with the voice that's inside of your head,
Thinking,
Thinking,
Thinking.
And return our focus back to the sensation of breathing,
The rising of the abdomen,
The falling of the abdomen,
And the pauses between the breaths.
Become aware of sensations in the body or on the body,
Maybe tightness or pressure or comfort.
Without clinging to these sensations or trying to push them away,
Just allow them to be.
Without judgment,
And gently return the focus back to the breath.
If you find that your mind is wandering,
Label this thinking,
Thinking,
Thinking,
And return the focus back to the breath.
Become aware of sounds in the room.
We're not worried about the sounds themselves,
Just the phenomenon of hearing.
We can label this hearing,
Hearing,
Hearing,
And then gently bring our focus back to the breath.
Become aware of smells or tastes or visions behind your closed eyes and label these smelling or tasting or seeing.
And just gently bring the focus back to the breath,
Back to the rising and the falling of the abdomen or the sensations of the inhalation or the exhalation at the tip of the nose.
Be aware of all phenomena that come into your field of awareness.
Acknowledge the existence of these.
Know that they are happening.
And return your focus back to the breath.
Now gently bring your focus back to the sensation of sitting,
Back to the weight of the body on the mat or on the chair.
Take a few deep breaths.
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes.
This concludes this session.
I hope you find it centering,
Calming,
And I hope you carry this focus and this intention into the rest of your day.
Thank you for sitting with me and I look forward to seeing you again soon.
Bye bye.
