Welcome.
The following is a recorded mindfulness meditation with the intention of tapping into spaciousness.
And mindfulness has this quality that's open and vast,
Able to breathe in,
And able to contain what's ever coming up for you.
So take a moment to find your position.
That might be seated,
Might be standing,
It might be lying down,
But finding some combination of uprightness and easefulness that works for you today.
And then once you're there,
You might close your eyes or you might just gaze down at the floor softly in front of you.
And then allowing your attention to settle onto your breath,
Settle onto the natural rising and falling of the breath.
And sometimes it can be helpful to take a few deliberately long breaths,
Deliberately breathing in and allowing it all the way out.
And after you take a few of those,
Just allowing your breath to settle back into a normal rhythm.
Noticing that the breath moves pretty slow,
Even on its own.
It's very patient,
This breath,
It has nothing to accomplish.
Just repeats itself over and over.
Tune your attention on to that rhythmic,
Calming repetition.
And as you do this,
As you tune your attention onto the breath,
A natural antsiness might arise.
It's like a resistance to moving more slowly,
And that's normal.
Our bodies and our minds are used to moving much more quickly,
So there's an inertia to it,
A momentum behind the quickness.
And this resistance to moving more slowly,
It might feel like antsiness or anxiousness or boredom,
Or even sleepiness,
And those reactions are normal.
So allow them to be here,
Knowing that there's space for those sensations,
Those feelings.
As you acknowledge those feelings,
Just soften your attention back onto your breath,
Stabilizing around the composure of breath.
And as you notice any uncomfortable sensations or antsiness,
There's no need to judge it.
In fact,
Release any judgment.
Release any reaction to your reaction.
Antsiness is normal,
It's to be expected,
And there's room for it.
You might picture that antsiness as a character,
As a color,
A texture,
And imagining fresh air all around that,
Miles and miles of fresh air.
So no matter how fast those sensations move or how big they grow,
There continues to be room for it,
And there continues to be room for your breath.
Just reconnecting to the breath here.
And as you're tuning into the breath,
You might notice thoughts come up,
Plans or memories or calculations of some sort.
Again,
That's normal.
It's to be expected.
The mind is always firing.
Simply allowing those thoughts to exist and pass away without so much interference.
And some thoughts might be really enticing,
They might feel like a magnet for your attention.
You don't have to fight that.
Simply acknowledge that it's happening,
And then tap into the spaciousness around the thought.
No matter how big or intricate those thoughts might be,
There's this vast field of spaciousness around them,
And the thoughts just disappear into them,
Kind of like fireworks.
When they happen,
They're bright and beautiful,
And they capture our attention,
But without a doubt,
They eventually fade into the spaciousness of the sky.
And there might be lingering smoke,
Kind of that resonance of the firework that was just there,
But eventually that clears too,
And what's left is the spaciousness around it all.
And so with your thoughts,
You don't have to force them away.
Just soften back to your breath,
And know that the spaciousness of mind will still be there after the thoughts.
The spaciousness of mind is still there during the thoughts.
There's room to breathe,
So breathe.
And you might take notice that the spaciousness is fresh,
It has a newness to it.
Recognize that newness for a moment.
Notice the coolness of the air coming through your nostrils as you breathe in that fresh new air.
Give yourself that space to breathe,
That space to fluctuate and shift,
Almost like you're replanting in a larger pot.
Ah,
There's something really soothing about having more space.
In the final few moments,
If your mind has zoomed into a thought,
Again,
That's normal.
You don't need to judge it.
Simply returning your attention to the rhythm of breath,
Sitting with this breath,
And knowing all the spaciousness around you.
There is room to breathe.
Start to bring your attention back to your body,
Back to your position and the heaviness of your body.
Maybe take a few deeper breaths,
Gently returning your attention to the room around you.
And as you blink open your eyes,
You may take a moment to notice the colors that you see,
The basic shapes,
And take a moment to thank yourself,
Always,
For taking time out of your day to do this practice.
