Hello,
And welcome to The Daily Insight.
My name is Mark Coleman,
And today we will be focusing on cultivating a focused attention.
Begin by establishing a comfortable posture,
Where you can sit relaxed yet upright and alert.
Close your eyes or gently lower your gaze and turn the attention inwards.
Today we'll be using the breath as a support for cultivating a relaxed but focused awareness through the practice of mindfulness.
So beginning by turning your attention to the breath and notice how the body is naturally breathing by itself.
No need to force the breath or control the breath or change it in any way.
Simply be present to the changing sensations of the inhale and the exhale.
Bring a curious attention to feeling and sensing the inhale,
Which you might notice as cool air passing through the nostrils or tickling the throat or expanding the chest and ribcage or lifting and falling the belly.
In the same way,
Feeling and sensing the out-breath,
All the changing sensations of the out-breath.
Also be present to the pause between breaths.
Staying relaxed in your body,
Alert with your attention,
Feeling and sensing all the sensations of the inhale and the exhale.
Now shift your attention to the place that you feel the breath most clearly.
That may be in the nostrils or the throat or the chest and belly and let your attention rest there,
Feeling all the variety of sensations of each inhale and each exhale.
Feeling it's natural that the attention will wander into thoughts or memories or plans.
And if that's the case,
You're simply acknowledging thinking's happening.
Release the thoughts and return.
Recognize release and return over and over reestablishing awareness of breath.
In a similar way,
You may notice other experiences,
Sounds,
Emotions,
Images,
Other physical sensations.
Our practice is simply to recognize those and return the attention over and over to the simple practice of breathing.
Breathing in,
I know I'm breathing in,
Breathing out,
I know I'm breathing out.
I have the pause and beginning again.
And as we bring this practice to a close,
See if you can be present to just one breath,
One inhale,
One exhale.
And as you bring the practice to a close,
Knowing that you can bring this practice and this quality of attention to any moment in your day.
