Mindfulness of thoughts meditation.
This will be a sitting meditation and it will last about 20 minutes.
The intention of this meditation is coming back to the body and the present moment,
Exploring,
Looking at thoughts rather than from thoughts.
Practicing relating to thoughts and how we relate to them.
Seeing their arising and passing away.
With the attention on noticing recurring patterns in the mind and the body,
In relation to the thoughts and how they develop and play out.
We do this with an attitude of non-judging and kindness,
Opening to a sense of acceptance.
If that feels right for you,
A beginner's mind about the experiences that are unfolding.
So finding a comfortable position seated on a chair,
Cushions if you need,
Feeling the ground beneath your feet,
Feeling your sitting bones making contact with the seat,
And your spine growing tall,
Sitting up straight but not rigid,
And your head balanced comfortably on the top of your spine,
And just allowing your hands to rest in your lap,
Whichever feels most comfortable and nurturing and grounding for you,
And allowing the body to become still.
And just take a moment now to become aware,
Maybe listening to sounds,
Sounds in the room,
Sounds outside of the room.
Not identifying the sounds,
But just allowing sounds to come to your ears,
And being aware of hearing sounds,
Accepting sounds.
And as we settle down,
Allowing our attention to feel the body breathing,
Breath entering and leaving the body,
And bringing curiosity and freshness to this moment,
And noticing where we feel sensations of the breath most vividly.
Simply breathing in and breathing out,
Noticing there's a beginning and a middle and an end of the breath,
Beginning,
Middle and the end of each breath.
And then gently orientating yourself towards thought,
Allowing any thoughts to come and go,
Maybe acknowledging them,
Saying to ourselves,
Hello thought,
Goodbye thought,
Practising looking at thoughts,
Being aware of that space between the thought and what we think about the thought.
If we are judging our thoughts,
Just noticing.
Practising perhaps labelling your thoughts,
Ruminating,
Planning,
Worrying,
Dreaming,
Remembering.
Practising looking at the thoughts and then gently coming back to the anchor of the breath and the body sitting here.
You may think of our thoughts as like a stream of thoughts.
Maybe we're sitting on a rock by a stream looking at the water.
Maybe it's autumn and the leaves are our thoughts,
Falling from overhanging branches and dropping into the water.
We're just watching the leaves as they pass by.
Practising looking,
Looking at our thoughts,
Rather than from our thoughts.
Maybe we have lots of thoughts,
Strong thoughts,
Like a huge waterfall and those thoughts are pounding down on us,
Drenching us with thoughts,
Being soaked in thoughts.
But maybe we can choose to step out of that waterfall,
Step away from thoughts,
And looking back at the waterfall,
Realising that the thoughts will always be there.
But it's about us being aware of those thoughts and our choice as to whether we stand underneath the waterfall of thoughts or step aside and just notice the thoughts,
Giving ourselves a choice and a freedom of what to think.
Thoughts are mental events,
Just thoughts.
Allow yourself to notice the rhythm of your breath,
Breathing in and breathing out,
Breathing all the way in,
All the way down into the body,
Down into the feet,
Earthing yourself,
Grinding yourself,
Breathing in and breathing out,
Breathing in and letting go.
The sky is a bit like our mind and the clouds are the various thoughts coming and going.
Some may be small white clouds,
While others may be big black thunder ones.
Some clouds may be so big that they cover the entire sky.
But like the weather and the clouds passing,
So do our thoughts.
Just practising looking at thoughts rather than from the thoughts and gently coming back to your breathing,
Using the breath as an anchor,
As a safe space.
If thoughts become overwhelming,
We can always return to the breath,
The comfort of the kindly breath,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Sometimes when our mind wanders off into thought,
Those thoughts can seem to be like projections on a screen,
Like a film,
A movie.
Maybe we're watching ourselves or observing.
Maybe we play the same films in our minds over and over again.
Perhaps we have our top ten.
Just allowing yourself to notice the patterns of your thoughts and the quality of your thoughts,
Labelling them.
Ah,
Rumination is here.
Just noticing.
Or planning,
Worrying.
Just allowing yourself to become aware of the patterns of your thoughts by simply labelling them.
And as we breathe in and breathe out,
Down into the body,
Down into the ground,
Allowing ourselves to become grounded,
Before the next train of thought comes along.
Maybe we're standing on the platform as the train pulls in,
Watching all those thoughts on each carriage as it pulls in,
Giving yourself the opportunity to either get aboard the train of thought,
As it takes you off into the distance and places where you never imagined that you would go in thought.
Or maybe it's a familiar train of thought that you get onto and travel with.
Allow yourself to just watch the thoughts and not be in the thoughts.
Maybe staying on the platform and allowing that train of thought to just pass on by.
Coming back and anchoring to the body and to the breath,
Sitting here,
Breathing,
Practising,
Escorting your thoughts,
Gently,
Firmly,
Kindly,
Back to the anchor of the breath.
In this moment,
Experiencing our very alive bodies,
Practising allowing ourselves to be exactly as we are.
Watching the breath,
Noticing the sensation of the breath,
As you breathe down,
Becoming aware of the sitting bones,
Becoming aware of your feet,
Becoming aware of being in the room.
As this mindfulness of thought meditation comes to a close,
Allowing yourself to stretch and move in any way that feels good for you right now,
As your meditation is complete.
