Before taking the time to do this guided meditation,
Make sure that your phones are turned off and do your best to ensure that you're not going to be disturbed for the duration of your practice.
In developing a sitting practice,
It is useful to make sure that your posture is comfortable.
Sit so that your back is erect but not straining and is not rigid.
If you're sitting on a chair and you're not comfortable,
Sit so that your back is erect but not straining and not rigid.
If you're sitting on a chair,
Have your feet uncrossed and if possible,
Rest them on the floor.
If you're sitting cross-legged,
It's sometimes useful to support your hips with a cushion so that your knees are actually touching the ground.
It's helpful to pay attention to your posture because it reinforces our intention to be present,
Awake and alert to the body and it also allows the breath to flow more freely.
For that reason,
You might resist the need to lean back on something.
Of course,
If you suffer from pain or a medical condition,
Feel free to adapt these instructions in a way that works for you.
What is most important here,
Of course,
Is that we're cultivating our capacity to be present.
You can do your sitting practice with your eyes closed or if you like with your eyes open and softly focused on a spot on the floor in front of you.
We begin by welcoming ourselves into this special time and space.
Bringing a quality of gentle but alert attention to the breath.
Not thinking about the breath but rather bringing your attention to the felt sense of the breath as it moves into your body and as it moves out.
Notice where you feel the breath most strongly.
You might notice the movement of air or changes in temperature at the region of the nostrils.
Or perhaps you notice changes in sensations and pressures in the chest.
Or you might feel the movement of the breath in the abdominal region.
Notice where you feel the breath most vividly and allow yourself to connect to the sensations of the breath.
This is time to allow each breath to just unfold without making anything happen.
You might find from time to time that your mind wanders and pulls your attention into future concerns,
Thoughts,
Judgments,
Rehashing the past.
If you find that your mind wanders,
All you need to do is gently bring the attention back to the breath,
Following and feeling the waves of your breathing as best you can.
There's no need to make your breath any different to how it is.
Just noticing the movement of your breathing as it moves into your body and as it moves out.
We're learning here to use the breath as an anchor point to being present.
When you can feel and sense the movement of the breath in your body,
You're present.
So it doesn't really matter how many times your mind might wander.
Whenever you find that's the case for you,
There's no need to judge or analyze that.
Just gently,
Firmly bring your attention back to feeling the breath,
This breath here now.
Attending to the quality,
The texture,
The rhythm of each breath.
The body knows how to breathe.
All we are doing here is allowing ourselves the time to pay attention,
To notice the flow of breath.
Sometimes you might realize that you've been lost in thought,
Planning,
Judging,
Fixing,
Fantasizing.
And so we practice the art of noticing and gently starting again.
Each breath a new moment.
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No matter where the mind has wandered to,
We can always begin again with this breath.
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Just resting here with alert attention to your breathing.
Distraction away from your breath will happen,
And even if it happens constantly,
That's fine.
Bringing acceptance to how that is and cultivating patience by exploring the breath once again.
Your breathing is always there as an anchor point to the present moment.
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Noticing how the body receives the in-breath and how it lets go on the out-breath.
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There's no need to anticipate or plan into the future or to relive the past.
Just being here,
Right in this breath,
In this moment.
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If you like,
You can bring your attention to the space or gap between the in-breath and the out-breath.
And then between the out-breath and the next in-breath.
Simply feeling that space and allowing the next breath to move naturally.
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There is no particular way this needs to be,
No particular experience you need to have.
Just noticing how it is for you now with this breath.
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So if you like,
You can stay with your awareness of your breathing or you can expand your awareness outwards to an awareness of the sensations in the body as a whole.
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So this might be a good time to check into your posture.
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You might want to remind yourself that you don't have to try too hard to do this.
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About the sounds,
Finding some sounds pleasant,
Some sounds unpleasant.
And again we just notice that as thinking,
We can see the sound and receive sound as it rises,
As it falls.
And of course,
There is no need to judge yourself for losing a tune.
And of course there is no need to judge yourself for losing attention.
Instead,
Whenever you notice that your attention has wandered away from sound,
You might like to congratulate yourself for having noticed.
Using sound as the home ground to return to whenever your attention has wandered.
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Sounds coming and going.
The spaces between the sounds.
There is nothing you have to do or change,
Just relaxing with the sounds as they are.
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You might be becoming more familiar now with how the mind does wander.
And now,
Instead of moving back to the breath or back to the sensations or sound when we find that our attention has moved out,
We will now shine the light of awareness towards our thinking.
Meditation is not about stopping thought,
It's about noticing.
So taking time now to turn your attention towards your thoughts.
You can notice the thoughts as events in the mind that can come and go.
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So just as the sky has the capacity to hold the variety and texture and various forms of the clouds,
You can hold the various forms of your thoughts in your own awareness.
Not getting caught up in the thoughts,
But rather just noticing them.
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You might notice that some thoughts are quite strongly charged.
And you might notice that some thoughts are more neutral.
From time to time you might even notice space with no thought.
And of course if at any point this becomes too confusing or you become lost,
You can always just bring your attention back to the felt sense of the breathing and then opening up to the field of thinking once again.
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And so now for the last few minutes of the sitting,
We're going to open up to what we call choiceless awareness.
So allow your attention to be as vast and as wide as possible and receiving whatever is there to notice.
Sounds,
Sensations in the body,
The felt sense of the breath,
Thoughts.
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Choiceless awareness is a state of receptivity to whatever comes up for you in this moment.
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So allow yourself to hold your awareness in a special and replenishing way.
And trust that you've taken time to honor yourself.
There are many ways to restore and nourish our bodies and spending time in mindful meditation as you just have done is deeply restoring for both body and mind.
You might set the intention to continue cultivating this awareness,
This capacity to be present throughout the rest of your day.
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