Guided Mindfulness (MBSR)

This is a gentle and nurturing practice led by Keith Horan. During this practice you move your awareness towards the breath, the body, sounds, and thoughts. This practice helps you to come more into the present moment, with kidness and care, and with a growing awareness of your own experience.

Transcript

We are now beginning a guided 30-minute meditation practice.

Bringing yourself into a direct experience of the present moment.

Being aware of what is arising for you.

In this practice we will explore the breathing,

The body,

Sounds,

Thoughts and emotions and finally all of these experiences at once.

It's helpful to bring a sense of kindness and care to yourself and trying as much as possible to do this practice just as well as you can.

Try not to judge yourself while you're doing the practice.

So sitting in an upright posture,

A dignified posture,

Perhaps your back is more straight than normal but still without straining.

Shoulders are a little bit down,

Relaxed.

Your head is in line with your body.

Eyes can be opened or closed.

If they're opened it can be helpful to have a downward gaze with a soft focus and if they're closed just lightly closing the eyes.

So taking a moment to just settle into this posture.

Having the sense of gravity,

Bringing the body in contact with the chair or with the floor and at the same time having a sense of lifting the body,

A lift up through the spine.

And as you settle into the body beginning to bring your attention to your breathing.

It can be helpful to focus at a single point,

At a single place.

So observing where is the best place for you to notice your breathing.

Sometimes people find that the abdomen is a good place or it could be at the area of the chest or maybe at the nostrils or you may find it's a different place entirely.

So just taking a moment to see where can you notice your breathing right now.

Once you've chosen the place you're going to focus at,

Just gently bringing your mind there and just beginning to connect with the in-breath and with the out-breath.

Simply following the full in-breath and the full out-breath.

There's no need to change the breathing or do anything with it.

You're just trying to notice your breathing,

Your own breathing.

Noticing how each in-breath begins and develops and comes to an end and each out-breath similarly.

Noticing how each in-breath and each out-breath is unique.

It's something you can experience only right now.

Trying to directly feel the in-breath and the out-breath as opposed to thinking about it.

So it's just trying to directly feel the movement that occurs as you breathe in and as you breathe out.

At any stage,

If the mind wanders,

Just accepting that that's a pretty normal thing for the mind to do and then gently but firmly bringing the mind back to the breathing.

If you like,

You can note where the mind goes.

Just noticing what thoughts come up,

Like maybe noticing planning or thinking about the day that's just gone or thinking about the future.

And then once you've noted where the mind goes,

Bringing it back to the breathing.

Just bringing the mind back to the anchor of the breathing.

There's nothing else to do here but simply observe the full duration of the in-breath and the full duration of the out-breath.

And if any thoughts like boredom or irritation or frustration,

If any thoughts like that arise,

Just accepting that that's also part of your experience right now.

So again,

Just noticing these type of thoughts and still inviting the mind back to the breathing.

Just continuing to focus on this in-breath and on this out-breath.

And then when you're ready,

Expanding the awareness of the breathing,

Expanding it out to include the whole body,

Becoming aware of the whole body sitting on the chair or on the floor or on a cushion.

Just becoming aware of the whole body sitting here.

Noticing the contact of your feet on the floor,

Maybe the contact with the chair or the cushion.

And just being aware of any sensations you can observe in your body.

Just seeing what's in the body right now.

With no need to change what you're experiencing.

Just being open and curious.

Just experiencing your body as it is right now.

Being aware of the whole body,

The whole body sitting here in meditation practice.

And if the mind wanders off,

If thoughts arise and carry you away,

Just noticing where the mind has gone and bringing it back to the sensations of the body.

Back to any sensation that you can observe in your body,

Either in a specific part of the body or just a general sense of the whole body.

At times we can notice a sense of discomfort in the body or even a sense of pain in parts of the body.

At any time if this occurs,

We have some choices.

So for example,

We could choose to mindfully move the body,

Moving with awareness to see if we can bring more comfort.

So whether that's by just stretching or adjusting your posture.

Always feeling free to do this if it feels like the right thing for you.

Or you could take a different approach and decide to explore this sensation and see what's really there.

Simply looking closely at the sensation of discomfort or the sensation of pain.

Becoming curious about it.

Really looking to see what is here,

What is this sensation?

Does it have a shape or a size?

Is it a constant sensation or is it changing?

Does it come and go?

So just being curious about this sensation,

Accepting that it's part of your experience right now and moving up close to look at it.

So just exploring this sensation of discomfort if that feels okay to you.

Feeling free to continue doing this or else choosing to let go of this focus on a specific area and moving back to an awareness of the whole body.

Broadening out the awareness to include the whole body again.

Just being aware of sensations from the whole body as you sit here.

Really experiencing the whole body sitting here in stillness.

And then when you're ready,

Expanding this awareness again,

This time to focus on sound.

You may become aware of sound in your own body or sound within the room or building that you're in or perhaps even sounds from outside.

You don't need to make the sound or to look hard for it.

You're simply being receptive to the sounds that are there.

So there's no need for a major effort here.

It's just trying to be receptive and just listening to sound.

And noticing maybe some sounds are more constant while others come and go.

And some sounds are loud or some are quiet or high in pitch or low.

And all we're doing right now is just being receptive to whatever sounds arise.

We're simply sitting here and listening.

Just listening to sound directly.

Not so much thinking about the sounds or exploring what they mean or what they are.

Just simply meeting them as sounds.

Having this direct experience of sound.

And again here the mind may wander at times and just accepting that as part of the experience right now.

And just gently bringing the mind back.

In this case bringing the mind back to experiencing sound.

What sounds can you hear right now?

In this moment?

And then in this moment what can you hear?

It's only possible to hear sound in the current moment.

And in this way by focusing on sound we're able to bring ourselves into the present moment.

And then when you're ready letting go of the practice of listening for sound and bringing your attention to your thoughts.

So just as with sound where we took a receptive approach and just observed the sounds coming in and lasting and fading away.

Bringing a similar attitude and approach to your own thoughts.

So just seeing what thoughts are there.

Noticing the thoughts as they arise and last a little while.

And as they move away perhaps to be replaced by new thoughts.

A useful image to have is the picture of sitting alongside a stream and just watching the water flow by.

Just observing.

Not really getting so involved.

Having that sense of standing back and paying attention.

So it's like that with looking at the thoughts right now.

It's just a sense of sort of standing back and observing what thoughts come up.

And not trying to change anything.

Maybe there's loads of thoughts.

Maybe there's not so many.

And either way the practice is just to observe.

Just to be receptive.

Just witnessing the thoughts without needing to get caught up in them or be carried away by them.

Sometimes in meditation we can consider our thoughts as distractions.

But right now thoughts are the focus of the practice.

So just noticing what thoughts are there.

Just observing the thoughts that are in your experience right now.

Have the thoughts in this practice been constant or have they been changing?

So just having this gentle focus on your thoughts.

That's in the foreground of your experience.

And you're still aware of the whole body sitting here,

Breathing,

Maybe the sounds that are around you.

But seeing if you can bring your awareness of thoughts to the forefront of your mind.

And then when you're ready,

Letting go of the practice of focusing on thoughts and moving into what's sometimes called choiceless awareness.

Where you simply sit here and are aware.

Aware of whatever comes up.

Maybe it's a sensation in the body.

Maybe it's a thought.

Maybe a sound or maybe noticing your own breathing.

Just being here and having this sort of open,

Spacious sense.

This open,

Spacious awareness.

Just being open to whatever comes up in your experience.

So there's no distractions here.

Whatever you notice is the practice.

Simply being aware of whatever arises in your experience.

Just this spacious sense of being aware of wherever your attention goes.

And then as we come towards the end of the practice,

Returning back to a sense of the body.

Being aware of the body in contact with the chair,

With the floor.

Maybe having a sense of the contact of the feet on the floor.

A sense of sort of being grounded in this posture.

And being aware of your breathing.

Just reconnecting with the in-breath and with the out-breath.

And as this practice comes to a close,

Realizing that by practicing mindfulness,

You're deepening your ability to be fully present throughout the day.

Remembering that this practice gives you access to a wider,

Deeper,

And more open way of being in your life.

Reviews

Wonderful mindfulness practice! I bookmarked this one to come back to again! Thank you!

I really enjoyed this practice. Thank you for your soft and gentle guidance. Namaste 🙏

Lovely pacing and variety of mindfulness practices. Relaxing and helpful for self awareness. Thanks!

Very helpful. Would like something similar with more quiet in between

Wonderful calm and interesting guidance on mindfulness of body, breath, sounds and thoughts. Thank you 🙏

I found it was really great. While MBSR does not require an attempt, at least at the beginning to increase the comfort of the body, I find (my own experience) that an invitation by the person delivering to Guided Meditation to release typical points of tension increases the ability to “be aware”. I am particularly thinking about face, perineum, and one that is very hard to act upon: relax the shoulders.
And… good luck for the rugby World Cup ☘️ 🏈 🐓 !

I got value from the shifting focus in the 🧘‍♀️.

Very clear guidance, well-paced, effective for being more present

Awesome
Amazing
Will come back
It soothing
I think I took few slightly seconds of nap hahaha

Really great. I really enjoyed to be able to be sit still just being guided by your voice. Very worthy 30 minutes. I feel grateful to you. Thanks.

Very easy well explained practice taking sense of feeling, hearing and passing of thoughts into a stillness. I feel asleep for a very short time. Thank You

With breath, body sensation, sound, thoughts observations he has made an excellent meditation

Very beneficial

Great recording. One of my favorites.

Very enjoyable mindfulness practice. His soft Irish accent helps the process.

🙏 I will be back x

A glorious experience
The pacing was perfect
The movement from one focus to another was seamless
Thank you
I especially resonated with the reminder of benefits of meditation at the end of the practice
Wonderful !

Thank you. Great guidance, clear and understandable to me!

Nice guided meditation. Timing on the prompts were well placed to bring me back to the moment.

Really enjoyed this meditation! It kept me in target and in the moment. Thanks!! Will listen again.