The intention of mindfulness isn't stillness nor perfection,
But working with how we relate to our experience day to day.
Instead of reinforcing habits like distraction and reactivity,
Unintentionally allowing our stress to escalate in countless ways,
We set an intention to build more productive habits for ourselves.
Growing our awareness,
We build traits like patience that help manage life more easily.
There's no perfect,
Our minds stay busy.
With practice,
We find long-term changes.
And in the moment,
We more easily settle ourselves when life gets unsettling too.
So as you start your practice,
Find yourself a posture that feels alert and balanced and awake.
Shift gently in your seat maybe,
Slightly back and forth,
Settling into position when you feel your weight has become evenly distributed.
Building awareness often starts with our body.
There's nothing magical about the breath specifically.
So as we start,
Focus for a moment on the sense of your body touching the chair or the ground.
In this practice,
We focus on the breath only because that sensation of movement is always there.
There's nothing you need to do special.
There's nothing you need to change about how you breathe.
Any moment we pay attention to a breath,
We know we're aware again.
One breath at a time,
Doing your best to come back from wherever your mind has gone.
And if it's helpful,
You might add a bit of a mental label such as aware I'm breathing in and aware I'm breathing out,
Expecting that your mind will wander.
And the most important moment is that moment of awareness when you return.
Let go as you sit of any sense of striving or perfection.
Note any tendency to categorize or judge.
I'm no good at this or I'm getting it.
This is great.
Those reactions are natural,
But only thoughts.
There's no meditating well or poorly.
As you'd encourage a child,
Just do your best.
Set your intention,
Expect the distractions,
And return with patience and care to the next breath.
Your mind will almost certainly get pulled away into distraction.
So if a sound happens,
Acknowledge the sound and then perhaps most importantly,
Notice your perspective when coming back.
It's okay.
No need for frustration or self-judgment.
In this way,
Even a basic breathing practice can build self-compassion.
We set our intention,
We lose track,
And then we come back without expecting otherwise or getting down on ourselves.
It's all just part of our practice.
All of the practice inherently develops our sense of patience.
Unless it requires action in this moment,
Seeing if you can notice what's happening and then let things go for a few minutes.
What's it like to be irritated or hungry or excited and allow yourself a few moments to experience that without fixing it or changing it or acting on it.
Some other time in the day might require action.
For now,
Giving yourself permission to sit with awareness.
Setting an intention now as we end to bring these same intentions into the rest of your day.
Just as you're able,
Giving full attention to whatever happens and whomever you are with.
And when you lose touch with that goal,
With kindness and care,
In that moment of awareness,
Coming back once again.
