Anchoring Mindfulness Meditation

In this meditation, I guide you to explore difference places to "anchor" your attention to support focus and settling. We try the sensations of the feet, the seat and contact with floor, the hands and the breath as helpful places to come back to when the mind wanders off. Finding a supportive anchor place is a foundational skill in mindfulness.

Transcript

Welcome to this anchoring meditation. This meditation is designed to help you settle and ground yourself in the midst of life. So starting now by finding a comfortable but awake position. So you could be seated on the floor, Maybe cross-legged with your bum lifted on a cushion or a yoga block so that the knees are lower than the hips. You could also sit on a chair with your back a little bit away from the back of the chair so that your feet can be firmly planted on the floor and the spine upright and tall but relaxed. You could also do this meditation laid down on the floor making sure that you've got something underneath you that's comfy like a yoga mat or a rug or a carpet. In this meditation we're going to explore focusing our awareness on different parts of the body as a way of settling and grounding ourselves into the present moment. We're going to explore where it offers to us a sense of stability and groundedness and safety in this moment. Remembering that you are in charge in this meditation so if at any point my words don't feel right for you to follow you can let them go. So you can have the eyes open or closed and if the eyes are open inviting you to kind of softly bring your gaze to something on the floor or on the wall rather than moving your eyes around. So beginning by bringing your awareness to the whole body as it's sat or laid here. Feeling a sense of all the sensations unfolding within this space of your body right now. Aware of your body in whatever position it's in. And now inviting you to gather your awareness to focus on the sensations in your feet right now. Maybe sensing where the feet are touching the floor. Perhaps the soles of the feet or the heels, Tops of the feet. Inviting you to bring your awareness right up to the sensations in the feet. The pressure of touch with the floor or what's beneath you. The tingles. And when you notice your mind wanders into thinking, Maybe memories, Planning, Daydreams, Worries. Just noticing where the mind went and then bringing your attention back to the feet without giving yourself a hard time. Knowing that seeing the mind wandering and bringing your attention back to where you intended it to be is the meditation. So now inviting you to shift your awareness to explore focusing on another anchor place. Now the contact of your bum with whatever you're sat on. The feeling of pressure here. The weight of the body pressing down into whatever's beneath you. And if you're laid down you could bring your attention to all the points of the back body where it touches what's beneath you. Again and again coming back to feeling these contact points. Noticing when the mind wanders away and gently but firmly bringing the attention back to contact with bum or back body on the floor or whatever's beneath you. So now inviting you to explore using the sensations of the hands as an anchor place for your awareness. So bringing your awareness to feel any and all sensations in your hands right now. Maybe tingles, Pulses, Warmth, Coolness. Maybe feeling where the hands touch each other or make contact with what they're resting on. Again and again bringing your hands into center stage of your awareness. Coming back to feeling your hands again and again whenever the mind wanders away. And now inviting you to explore feeling the sensations of your breathing as an anchor for your attention. Noticing where you can feel your breath moving in your body right now. It can sometimes help to place a hand on the tummy or on the chest to tune into these sensations. Perhaps you feel the sensations of breath most clearly at the tummy. Feeling the gentle expansion and contraction of the abdomen wall as you breathe. Or perhaps you can feel the lift and lower of the chest. Or maybe the sensations of the breath are clearest at the nostrils or the back of the throat. Choosing somewhere to rest your awareness on the breath that feels clear and comfortable in this moment. Whenever you notice you've become carried away by the thought stream, Just noticing where your mind went and escorting your attention back to the breath. Now inviting you to choose one of these anchor places we've explored that offered for you a sense of stability and groundedness to practice with for the next couple of minutes. So either the sensations in the feet where the bum or back body touches what's beneath you, The sensations in the hands or the feeling of the breath wherever you can sense it most clearly and comfortably in this moment. So offering you a little bit of silence now to practice coming back to your chosen anchor place again and again. When the mind wanders away. So now we're going to come towards the end of this practice but you can take these anchors with you wherever you go. Pausing throughout your day to feel into one of these anchor places to bring you back into the present moment, To reconnect you with your body and settle and calm your mind in the midst of the busyness of your life.