One of the superpowers a Mindfulness Meditation practice gives us is the ability to insert a pause.
My name is Lori Wald and for the next 10 minutes you have nothing to do.
Mindfulness is an awareness of your present experience as it is,
Not as you would prefer it to be,
With curiosity,
With compassion and with a whole lot of courage.
And when we sit in meditation what we're doing is giving ourselves more opportunity to get better at being mindful,
To insert more mindful moments in our days.
So this isn't mysterious or mystical,
It simply means that we have an ability to be in the present without worrying about the past or concerned about the future.
And being in the present somehow allows us to see more options,
To give ourselves the gift of taking our time as we evaluate options.
So my favorite story about this is I have taught at an assisted living nursing home and most of my students were somewhere in their 90s.
And one day a lady came into the class and she said,
Oh,
Lori,
You know that thing you said about the pause and having more time?
Well,
Yesterday someone asked me if I would do something and I said,
I'll get back to you.
So I just love that story so much because here was this,
By all rights,
An elderly woman who had empowered herself with this simple pause.
No,
She didn't have to respond immediately.
And we're all bombarded with texts and tweets and emails where our responses are expected to be contemporaneous practically with the request from the other person and we don't have to respond quickly,
Not every time.
So we practice,
We practice sitting in stillness and through this practice we learn to slow time down.
So if you will,
Please find yourself a comfortable yet dignified position.
You can be sitting,
You can be lying down,
You can be standing.
Please make yourself comfortable.
You are free to have your back supported by a chair.
There's no need to sit cross legged on a cushion if that's not your thing.
Quite frankly,
It's not my thing.
And now as you're sitting,
Find your breath.
Just notice.
Notice the rise and fall of your belly.
Notice the way your chest expands and contract.
Can you notice that whisper of air that goes in and out of your nostrils.
The air comes in cool.
It goes out warm.
And as you sit and try to notice your breath,
You will become distracted.
There may be a thought.
There may be a really brilliant thought that you really want to remember.
Just promise yourself.
You'll come back to that thought later and then keep your promise.
You may notice some discomfort in your body.
It's okay.
Just notice.
Try not to engage with it.
Try not to get sucked into the story about it.
Just notice how it feels.
Notice if you're warm or cool.
If there are sounds surrounding you.
We notice without engaging.
Without spinning a story.
It's natural to be distracted.
It's human to be distracted.
The real meditation is noticing the distraction and then coming back.
To your breath.
Or to the sounds around you.
To that feeling.
That you're experiencing.
Be it tranquility.
Or serenity.
Or anxiety.
Or restlessness.
Identify.
Identify what you're feeling.
Be curious about it.
Isn't that interesting?
And then come back to your breath.
This is a simple,
Simple process.
As long as you're not too hard on yourself.
As long as you're not expecting perfection.
This is a practice.
We simply practice being with ourselves in the present moment.
It's okay.
Just start again.
I believe in you.
We pause and investigate.
And notice the next breath.
For the last minute,
Just stop trying.
And then come back to your breath.
And then come back to your breath.
That's it for this video.
I'm Marie Wald.
Thanks for meditating with me.
