In this mindfulness meditation practice,
We will be working with our thoughts.
Thoughts arise out of our mind and they come and they go and I want you to imagine them as if they were clouds in the vastness of the blue sky that is your awareness.
So I invite you to take a good seat,
Putting your mindful body on,
Ensuring that you are grounded,
Touching the floor with your feet if you're sitting in a chair or sitting with your spine straight and your knees slightly lower than your pelvis.
Bringing a sense of strength and straightness to your spine,
Making any necessary movements to bring a deeper level of comfort into your body in this moment.
I invite you to close your eyes or place your gaze six to twelve inches in front of you.
Once you've found stillness in your body,
I invite you to connect with your breath.
Inhaling,
Exhaling,
Inhaling,
Exhaling.
Connecting to the sensation of breath as it breathes your body and inviting a sense of openness into your heart space,
The kindness and a curiosity as we practice befriending our minds.
Now I invite you to place your attention on the sounds in your environment,
Noticing the different flavors and textures of sound that are present for you right now in this moment.
Notice the volume of sound and the gaps between the sound.
We notice that even in the stillness of sound,
Things are always moving.
When you're ready,
Begin to let the sounds fade into the background and move your awareness to thinking,
To the thoughts that arise in this moment.
Moving your perspective of thinking to curiosity.
What is arising for you right now in your thoughts?
We are just noticing.
Notice if you can see the moment that the thought dissolves or how the thought changes when you place your attention back on your breath.
Imagine that that thought is a cloud.
When you come back to your breath,
It begins to move and change,
Opening up the vastness of clear blue sky that is the quietness of your mind.
Our mind was made to think,
And so when we notice our thoughts and we stay with them,
We can have a deeper understanding and awareness of our own experience,
A deeper level of perception.
So I invite you to notice how your thoughts make you feel.
Do certain thoughts create discomfort or closing off and tightness in the body?
If so,
Just gently bring your attention back to your breath and your body with kindness,
Breathing in that expansiveness.
Other thoughts may be more pleasant.
Notice what arises for you when you think of a pleasant thought,
What sensations occur in your body,
What emotions are there for you.
And with loving kindness,
Place gentle attention on what is here for you now.
Whatever awarenesses and sensations arise,
Invite curiosity and kindness.
And know that you can calm your thinking mind by coming back to your breath,
Coming back to your body,
Noticing the sounds around you and your environment.
And this is how we train our brain.
Our brain may be the boss of our body,
But you are the boss of your brain.
And with mindful awareness,
We can notice what's arising in the present moment and connect back to the tools within us to bring a quietness and stillness and peacefulness to our experience.
When you're ready,
I invite you to take your hands and place them on your heart space,
Taking a deep breath in and exhaling with a smile.
Thank you for your practice.
