Welcome.
The following is a recorded mindfulness meditation with an emphasis on patience,
Which is a quality of the mindfulness practice,
And so take a moment to find your comfortable position.
Once you are in a comfortable and upright position,
Just taking a moment to tune your attention inward,
Start to notice the general landscape of your body.
It might help to close your eyes or just softly gaze at the floor.
Start to notice the pacing of your own breath.
Notice any tingling or vibration in your body.
And as you're beginning this inquiry,
This noticing,
You might notice that the mind is already resisting in some way.
It's trying to pull you out of this gentle,
Patient inquiry by thinking or planning,
Problem-solving.
That's normal.
It's just what the mind does.
The practice here is to keep returning onto the breath,
Onto the body.
And start to do that more deliberately now,
Noticing the rising of the breath and the falling of the breath.
Inhale and exhale.
And you'll start to notice that the breath repeats over and over.
Nothing too exciting or dramatic about the breath.
It's quite mundane.
And the practice is to get very interested in it,
Very interested in this gentle repetition,
Allowing your attention to diffuse into this rising and falling.
And this practice of watching the breath and returning the attention to the breath is innately patient.
We're not trying to get anywhere.
We're not even trying to do anything.
Just allowing yourselves to be breathed and observing it as it happens.
And around the wave of the breath,
You might notice other characteristics of your current experience,
Maybe sounds.
They can be nearby sounds or faraway sounds,
Smooth sounds or sharp sounds.
Just allowing those sounds to be part of your experience here.
You might notice other physical sensations,
Pleasant and unpleasant sensations.
And again,
Just allowing them to be here.
Allowing them to exist in this moment.
And as the mind,
Again,
Picks up,
Projects you forward or somewhere else,
You don't have to fight it.
You don't have to judge it.
It's just what the mind does.
You might even say,
Thank you,
Mind,
For always planning 100 steps ahead,
For always trying to protect me against things that haven't even happened yet.
But for right now,
I'm settling into this moment.
Just this.
Just this.
Knowing that the best possible way we can show up for future moments is by attuning to this moment.
And again,
Attuning to this moment now.
And this moment now.
Over and over.
Noticing your breath.
This slow,
Patient breath.
Us humans have a tendency to want to speed up time to match our expectations.
And in this practice,
We are slowing down our expectations to match time.
We are settling into this gentle unfolding of time.
You can feel that it's unfolding very deliberately,
But quite slowly.
So bring your attention on to just this.
Just this next breath.
And just this next breath.
The final few moments here.
If your mind has gone elsewhere,
No big deal.
That didn't break the practice.
Just soften your attention back onto your breath.
For this breath.
And this one.
And start to notice the air on your skin.
And the air around your body.
Start to notice the weight of your body.
And then very gently return your attention to the room or your surroundings.
Blinking your eyes open.
Taking in the colors and the shapes.
And noticing again if your mind is jumping ahead.
That's normal.
But keeping some intention and following this gentle unfolding of time.
With no rush.
Take a final moment just to thank yourself for doing this practice.
It's always a big deal.
And I appreciate your time.
