Hello,
My name is Kimberly Johnson and I will be your guide during this meditation.
During this meditation,
We will begin to explore non-attachment.
I want to preface this meditation by just simply stating the fact that attachment is quite normal in the human experience.
And often when we have attachment to things,
We might suffer.
So working with our attachment is the simple just practice of noticing when we're attached or noticing when we're grabbing on to something and practice letting it go.
Practice letting it go over and over and over again.
So in today's practice,
We're going to just focus on the breath and then we're going to notice the things that enter into the meditation.
Might be thoughts,
Might be body sensations,
Might be entire storylines,
Might be the past,
Might be the future,
Might be external noises.
And our whole goal is to catch ourselves when we grab on to the thing that arises and we kind of go on the wild ride of that thing.
So notice when something is arising and we've grabbed on and then practice letting it go and returning back to the breath.
So go ahead wherever you are and just take a moment to get comfortable.
Number one most important thing during meditation is to be comfortable.
So gently just finding the seat.
See if you can make the spine really long.
So moving the crown of the head,
The top of the head toward the ceiling,
Toward the sky wherever you might be.
And see if you can let the muscles around the bones relax.
Relaxing the face muscles,
Relaxing the shoulders,
Relaxing the arms and the hands,
Relaxing the belly,
And then relaxing the hips,
Letting the hips get a little bit heavier on the floor or the ground that you're sitting on.
And then relaxing the legs and the feet.
Just letting your body let go.
And notice what this letting go feels like to not be holding on so tightly.
And right here,
Begin to scan the body and locate the breath wherever you find the breath most easily.
Wherever you find the breath most easily.
It might be in the nostrils.
It might be in the chest.
It might be in the belly.
Just locating the breath.
And just begin to notice the inhales and the exhales.
Being aware of when you're inhaling.
Being aware of when you're exhaling.
Now if you notice that the breath is hard to pay attention to,
See if you can find a neutral sensation in the body.
Might be a neutral sensation in the hands,
The elbows,
The feet,
Or the ears.
And you can return to those places,
Those sensations in the body if the breath doesn't work.
I'm going to cue the breath from now on,
But know that you have other options if the breath doesn't work for you.
So keeping the attention right on the breath,
Noticing the beginning of the inhale,
The middle of the inhale,
And the end of the inhale.
Notice the beginning of the exhale,
The middle of the exhale,
The end of the exhale.
Don't let your Rookie gather.
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Now what you'll notice if you haven't already is that your mind will wander from the breath.
Right when the mind wanders,
That's where we attach.
That's where we go down the rabbit hole of thinking.
This is no problem.
Just notice that the mind has wandered,
That it's attached to the storyline,
To the feelings.
And right there,
Practicing,
Letting it go.
Letting it go as if it's neutral and not so important.
And right there,
When you let go,
Choosing to gently bring the attention right back to the next breath.
Repeating this over and over and over.
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Notice where your awareness is as it strayed from the breath.
Notice what it grabbed onto.
Gently let it go and bring your awareness as kindly as you can back to the next breath.
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Gently notice where is my attention.
If it's strayed from the breath,
Just gently notice what it grabbed onto.
And see if you can set it aside,
Let it go,
And redirect the attention right back to the next breath.
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Taking a slow,
Deep breath and maybe placing one of the hands over the heart.
Saying the most kind thing that you could say to yourself in this moment.
Saying the thing you need to hear the most.
Taking some slow,
Deep breaths.
Knowing that even if you only were able to stay with your breath for one breath,
That that is the practice.
I'm going to ring the bell three times.
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Slowly beginning to move your body,
Deepen the breath.
Knowing that you can take this practice into every moment of your day.
Namaste.
