Come to sit in a comfortable seated position,
Upright,
With a long tall spine,
Lengthening the back,
Opening the chest,
Yet relaxing the shoulders down.
I'm going to take a moment to observe your breath and body as you're sitting here.
Noticing the belly and chest rising,
And noticing them contracting and drawing in.
Following the rhythm of the breath in the body.
Maybe noticing if the breath is deep or shallow,
Fast or slow.
Just observing the breath as it is,
Without needing to change it.
Maybe even noticing this tendency to want to change it,
Allowing it to be.
See if you can observe the pause at the end of the inhale and at the end of the exhale.
Now bring your awareness to the whole cycle of breath.
Inhaling through the nose,
Allowing the air to pass through the lungs into the body,
And on the exhale,
Noticing the air moving out of the body.
Maybe you can observe different qualities that you can link to the inhale or the exhale.
So what kind of qualities does the inhale have?
Qualities such as freshness,
Newness,
Openness,
Gently observing the inhale,
And what kind of qualities you can notice.
Doing the same for the exhale,
Noticing the qualities connected to exhaling.
Maybe this sense of contraction,
Releasing,
Letting go,
Observing what it is for you.
And from there,
Bringing your breath to your anchor,
The part in the body where you feel the breath the most.
Whether this is the belly,
The chest,
The tip of the nose,
Just seeing where you feel the breath the most.
Keeping your attention there as best as you can.
Lovely.
And if you notice you got lost into thought,
Then see if you can praise yourself to waking up to the tendencies of the mind and then gently coming back to the observation of the breath.
And when you're ready,
Bringing the attention to the body,
Feeling the body sitting here in this space,
The air touching the skin,
Coolness,
Warmness.
You may allow your attention to move towards any sensation that arises in the body.
This could be tension,
Pressure,
Tingling,
Temperature,
Any sensations holding your attention there and see if you can explore these sensations with investigative curiosity without needing to judge,
Liking or disliking,
Without needing to get lost in a storyline about,
For example,
The body part that you have this history with or needing to solve or fix anything.
Just noticing what is there in this moment and exploring this sensation.
Where does it start?
Where does it end?
Moving around the sensation with your attention,
From the inside out and the outside in.
Is the sensation constant or does it change?
Taking some time to explore.
And if you notice you got lost in a story of the mind bringing you into the future or past then just notice this and allow yourself to be here again.
In this moment using the body and the sensations in the body as your anchor,
Placing your full focus and attention there.
Repeating this process of getting lost and coming back over and over again.
And when one sensation fades,
You may also choose to move to a next sensation that arises in your awareness.
To explore that,
Exploring the parameters and various qualities of a present moment and whatever may be arising.
And should you feel the need to move,
See if you can do so mindfully.
So first investigating the sensation,
Staying with it,
Whatever is arising and then from awareness,
Moving with attention,
Doing whatever is needed.
Now letting go of focusing on bodily sensations and bring your awareness to sound,
Allowing the attention to rise to the ears,
Opening the ears to whatever sensations are coming and going.
Hearing sound as it is,
Without having to identify it,
Judge it,
Think of it,
Without having to decide if it's pleasant or unpleasant,
Just noting the sound in its purest form,
Allowing sound to come and go.
And see if you can bring some curiosity to hearing,
Noting whether sound is continuous,
Intermittent,
Loud or soft,
Attending to its qualities of pitch,
Timbre,
Rhythm,
Tone,
Awareness and attention,
Becoming a scent that you share with a Experiment stakeholders And if there are no sounds,
Just simply knowing that.
Seeing sounds as sensations coming and going.
You You Experiencing that attending to sound is another way of being with direct experience It is a different type of anchor to bring you to the present moment Letting go of your focus on hearing Bringing your attention to thinking treating thoughts as sensations sensations that arise expand in the field of awareness They become larger and then recede in the background again Maybe seeing them as clouds in the sky passing by Some days there are many clouds other days just a few The clouds may be darker or lighter And sometimes maybe you experience a clear blue sky in mind Bringing all your attention to your thoughts allowing them to pass by You You And if you wake up to find That you've been carried off by a cascade of thinking just noticing this and maybe see if it's possible to have an attitude of celebration celebrating this moment of awareness Acknowledging yourself from noticing you've gone somewhere else and then gently Softly bringing your awareness back to thinking noticing your thoughts You You It may be useful to Imagine thoughts as a kind of waterfall and you are standing behind the waterfall Watching as they cascade down not engaging with them not retreating from See if you can be curious about the thoughts arising without needing to grip them or to be gripped by them Allowing to see them and let them pass by Now staying with your thoughts You Letting go of your focus on thinking Bringing your awareness to your emotional state just notice whatever emotions are present Lightly noting the mind state Is there frustration or boredom or can you notice any kind of judgments or perhaps a lighter emotion contentment Or is it more neutral just taking a moment to note whatever emotions are present?
You And now you're invited to bring the entirety of your awareness to experience whatever there is Noticing whatever arises in awareness This could be sensations of breathing Sensations of the body Sounds thoughts or emotions if you wish Opening your awareness accepting a kind of choicelessness in your attention You It may be helpful to bring out the image of a tree,
With solid roots and trunk,
But the branches are flexible.
Thoughts and emotions are like storms or the wind moving through the branches,
Shaking them when they pass.
The tree is stable,
Without resisting or blocking,
Allowing the experience of the wind to pass through.
You too can be with experience,
Allowing thoughts and feelings to pass through without bracing,
Blocking or resisting.
And the breath may serve as an anchor,
While you observe all the sensations of the body,
Sounds,
Thoughts and emotions passing by.
Come to notice the body again.
Establishing awareness of breathing.
Noticing the expansion of the belly on the inhalation and its deflation on the exhalation.
In this meditation you have experienced different ways to bring your attention to the present moment,
Different anchors,
Focus on the breath,
The body,
Sounds and thoughts.
Shortly this meditation will come to an end,
And at the sound of the bell softly blinking the eyes open and taking some time before you move back into your day.
