Basic Concentration Practice

....concentration as in relaxation: just breathing, gently, with ease and with love.

With that kind of concentration, stress evaporates, at least for the moment. There’s just presence, stillness, and rest. There’s nothing sweeter than a nice comfy couch but when one just isn’t available – like when we’re in a courtroom or Zoom room or train – the breath and gentleness and ease and love always are.

Transcript

Hey everybody, It's Judy Cohen and this is Wake Up Call 513. So let's find your posture of stillness and let that be a posture that is as comfortable as possible while also being upright. And while also being relaxed. So maybe just do a basic body scan and just notice where there might be tightness or holding. And just as you scan through the body and notice that, Just let it go. And if relaxation isn't available, Let go of the trying to make it be so. And then bring the attention to the breath. Unless for some reason, Attending to the breath would be activating for you. And in that case, Take a moment just to settle the mind on the sounds in your environment. And then specifically bring the attention to the sensation of the air flowing across the top of the upper lip. If you have a stuffy nose and you're breathing through your mouth, Then just continue to breathe through your mouth. But if you can sense the feeling of the air flowing over the upper lip, Just do that. And whenever the mind wanders and you notice, Come back to that space at the upper lip, That sensation. And let the attention rest there with just the lightest of touches, Just the greatest of kindness, Ease, No effort. And as you do this, Just see if the mind is settling just a little bit or just a little bit more. And if there is great, If there is settling and if there's not, Let go of there being any problem with unsettledness. And bring some joy into this practice too. Don't forget the joy. Yeah, Make it fun, Make it interesting, Sweet. And then you can gently let go of the concentration and just relax, Flutter the eyes open and know that you can take this with you into your day and just take a minute or even 30 seconds and yeah, Just drop into this very relaxed state.