Focusing can feel hard.
And whether you have an official diagnosis of ADD or ADHD,
I was diagnosed with ADHD in college,
Or if you are a human living on this planet today,
Living with technology that's constantly refreshing,
Living with these expectations that we immediately respond to things.
These things are training us to have attention that skitters off in the other direction,
Whatever the other direction means,
All the time.
It makes us feel as though we have an inability to focus.
We don't have an inability to focus.
Our focus muscles are simply out of practice.
So what do we do when muscles are out of practice?
We train them up.
So this meditation is going to be all about training your focus muscles.
So this is a workout for focus.
And yes,
You can do it.
If I can do it,
You can do it.
So I'm going to walk you through one of my favorite techniques.
There are so many ways to do this,
So many different things you can focus on,
But I am just going to walk you through my favorite way,
Which means for the first time today,
I'm going to tell you the position you're going to get in for this meditation.
And you are going to lie on your back with your legs up the wall or with your feet on the floor,
Knees bent.
The point is you are lying down for this meditation.
And don't worry if you fall asleep.
I had a great meditation teacher tell me once,
If you fall asleep,
It means you needed to sleep more than you needed the meditation.
You can try meditating again later.
The point is you're going to lie down.
And for this meditation,
You need a small object,
Whether it's a crystal or a rock or a piece of wood or a matchbox car or something about that size.
And you're going to put it on your belly.
Gather all your tools as in that one tool,
That one thing that you're going to put on your belly and get in position,
Lying on your back with your legs up the wall or knees bent,
Feet flat on the floor.
And let's get started.
So,
You're placing that object on your belly,
And then you are putting your hands in the ASL symbol for I love you,
Which is four finger,
Pinky finger,
Thumb up,
Middle two fingers are down.
And you're going to put one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly.
So,
It's touching that object that's on your belly.
All right.
You ready?
Close your eyes and arrive.
Feel your body in position.
Feel the back of your body against the floor,
The bed,
The mat,
Whatever is beneath you.
Feel where your body is touching other things.
So,
Notice where your skin is touching your clothing.
Notice if you have any jewelry on,
Notice where your jewelry is touching your skin.
Feel the weight of your body on the ground.
Feel the weight of your hips on the floor.
Feel the weight of your body on the ground.
Feel the weight of your hips.
Feel the weight of your shoulder blades.
Feel the weight of your head.
Notice how supported you are.
You are right here.
It is right now.
And you have nowhere else to be and nothing else to do.
Now,
Bring your attention to your breath.
You're going to notice the rising and falling of your belly.
Now,
I know that when I pay attention to my breath,
A lot of times I control my breath rather than allowing my breath to control me.
In other words,
I sometimes breathe a little faster than is natural when I'm watching my breath because I get impatient.
That's not what I want to do.
It's something that I notice.
And you might notice that it happens for you as well.
It's okay if it happens.
And if it does,
Go ahead and consciously let go and allow your body to breathe as it knows how because really your head has no idea how to breathe.
It's your lungs,
Your diaphragm,
And your belly that know how to do the breathing.
Let them be in charge.
You just back off.
So,
Just notice the rise and fall of your belly.
Let it be as slow as it wants to be.
Allow there to be a space between the inhale and the exhale and between the exhale and the inhale.
Just feel the rising and falling.
Feel that object that's on your belly rising and falling.
And feel your hand touching that object that's on your belly as it rises and falls.
So,
You've got input from your belly that you're breathing.
Your belly is rising and falling.
You've got the weight of that object on your belly reminding you that your belly is rising and falling,
Which reminds you that you're breathing.
And you've got your hand touching that object on your belly,
Feeling it rising and falling.
You've got all these reminders taking you back to the fact that you are breathing,
Which is the only thing you need to know right now.
So,
Rising and falling.
Bring all of your attention to that rising and falling.
Use all of these tools.
Use the observation that your belly is rising and falling.
Use the feeling of the weight of that object on your belly as it rises and falls.
And use the tactile sensation you experience as that object touches your hand as your belly rises and falls.
Focus on this right now.
Nice work.
That was a whole minute.
Now,
You may have noticed as you're trying to focus on this one thing that your brain tries to run away.
Of course it does.
That's what it's used to doing.
And every time it tries to run away,
Simply gently,
Kindly,
Lovingly,
In a friendly way,
Bring it back.
So,
Let's focus just on that breath on the rising and falling one more time.
Go.
Nice work.
That was another minute.
You are doing great.
Let's do it again.
Ready?
Go.
Go.
Go.
Go.
So,
That was two minutes.
You are amazing.
We're going to do one more rep and it's only going to be a minute.
You've got this.
Ready?
Focus on the rising.
Focus on the falling.
Stay right there with your breath.
Go.
Go.
You did it.
Awesome job.
Congratulations.
Remember,
There's no such thing as a bad meditation.
Meditation is all about bringing it back.
It's all about falling out of that focus and coming back,
Catching yourself and coming back,
Falling down and getting back up again.
It's all about maintaining a beginner's mind.
You've got this.
Keep practicing.
