Meditation to focus the mind,
Abbreviated version.
Sit comfortably,
In a good posture,
Shoulders back and down,
Open up the chest.
Your spine is nice and straight,
Aligned with your neck.
Your eyes are relaxed.
You just naturally allow them to just open just slightly so some light can come through.
You bring your awareness to the areas of your body touching the cushion,
The chair and the floor.
You try to ground yourself,
Connecting with the earth element,
With its firmness and stability.
Then we generate an altruistic motivation for the practice,
Thinking I will engage in this meditation so I can train and subdue my mind.
By doing so I will find inner clarity,
Inner peace,
Inner happiness.
And by doing so I will become a clearer,
Kinder human being for the benefit of all beings.
Then try to bring the mind inwards into this field of body.
Pull it in,
Leaving behind any projections of the past or the future.
Just leave all that behind,
Put it to a side.
You can come back to them later.
But for now bring the mind in and become present.
So your body is right there,
Breathing.
You connect with that.
And your mind is right there from within,
Observing your body breath.
Unifying body and mind in the same space and time.
And then next we try to neutralize the mind from the two obstacles for meditation that are distraction and forgetfulness.
So as an antidote for forgetfulness we take deep inhalations.
So deep in,
Sorry,
Breath in deeply.
And refresh your body and mind.
Nice deep inhalations.
Inhale and replenish body and mind,
Metabolize.
And then as an antidote for distraction we focus on deep exhalations.
So while you continue breathing in in this way now focus more on your exhalations.
Which are twice longer than the inhalations.
So inhale deeply and inhale slowly.
As low as you can.
And through that relax.
Relax your body.
Relax your facial expression.
And relax your mind,
Breath out anything that doesn't belong to the present moment or that is not supportive for the practice.
The inner dialogues,
Just the random conversations,
Just the busyness,
Just see if you are willing to breath them out,
Let them go.
Let everything go.
Release and let everything go.
And then gradually allow your body to find its natural rhythm of breath.
And then bring your awareness to your nostrils fully.
You bring your attention there and you lock it there.
And you observe curiously every single sensation at your nostrils while you breath in,
Every single sensation at your nostrils while you breath out.
And you remain there engaged,
Curious.
Fully present and fully observant for the next 7 minutes.
So,
Notice that the mind wanders.
You leave it at that and you bring it back.
You don't do further comments,
You bring it back to the nostrils.
And you try to exhale the distraction and let it go.
And you come back and you continue your observation in a relaxed yet engaged manner.
Not pushing and not getting too relaxed either.
And zoom in and observe.
And zoom in and observe.
Okay.
So take 3 deep breaths.
And at the end of your last breath,
Fully open your eyes and then you can just dedicate these efforts to be efforts as it was intended.
And for beings to have happiness in its causes and be free of suffering in its causes.
Okay.
Thank you.
