A Resting Place

A Resting Place. Exploring the First Foundation of Mindfulness; of the Body. Establishing a safe and comfortable place for resting attention. Exploring attention to breathing, sound, and contact points in the body.

Transcript

A Resting Place In this meditation,

We'll explore places to rest attention.

Developing a resting place,

Or as often referred to as an anchor,

Is a place to rest a focused attention during meditation,

As well as a resource to refer to at any time during the day.

It is essential to mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a state of awareness.

It's helpful to rest our attention in the moment when we can concentrate from an objective resting place,

Attention,

Intention,

And awareness of the present moment without judgment.

The teachings and perspectives on mindfulness have become popularized and spread around the world.

Today,

Mindfulness is being taught and developed in therapy practices,

In healthcare and education,

In the corporate boardrooms.

Mindfulness has caught the attention of contemporary neuroscience research,

And thousands of studies have demonstrated the benefits of mindfulness meditation practices.

However,

The teachings and practices are not new.

They have been taught for thousands of years by spiritual teachers,

Prophets,

And philosophers throughout history,

Some of the original teachings by the Buddha 2,

600 years ago.

The essential teachings of mindfulness include the four foundations,

Mindfulness of the body,

Of emotion and feelings,

Of thoughts and the nature of the mind,

And of our direct experience.

The first foundation of mindfulness is mindfulness of the body and is where we establish an awareness in the present moment in our body,

Finding a stable anchor to rest our attention.

It can be a resource and a reference point to rest attention and awareness because it's stable,

Always present,

And tangible.

The body is also more experientially stable than thoughts,

Feelings,

And emotions.

And for that reason,

The body is the primary source for establishing and supporting and cultivating awareness.

A resting place or anchor is a designated point to return attention to over and over and over.

During meditation or at any point when we are distracted or lost in thought,

Developing the capacity to concentrate is an essential component of mindfulness.

Having the ability to focus one's attention brings more awareness and presence to the present moment,

Anytime,

Not just in meditation.

Mindfulness is a way of being,

Not just for sitting in silence.

Resting places in the body that we'll explore today include the sensations of breathing,

Of sound,

And contact points.

A practical tool and a skillful means for developing self-awareness,

Seeing and understanding oneself and how we show up in the world,

How to become more discerning in the choices we make,

Finding meaning,

And cultivating equanimity.

Establishing a resting place gives us a place to take pause during challenging and difficult times that life inevitably brings.

It is a refuge,

A retreat,

And a quiet and safe place to rest our attention.

It is a place that can bring more clarity and understanding into the true nature of things.

The direct experience of being aware of oneself and of one's thoughts,

Emotions,

Feelings,

And sensations,

It is kind of a practice of befriending oneself,

Being able to see oneself in any given moment from a point of observation,

Being present intentionally without judgment,

Bias,

Ridicule,

Or self-aggrandizing,

Alert and present,

Cognizant in our experience,

Discerning in our choices,

And conscious of our intentions,

The genuine and authentic self,

Aware in the ever-changing world.

And like physical exercise,

To stay fit and healthy in our bodies,

Mindfulness and meditation is a kind of mental fitness training,

Developing the capacity to recognize wholesome and unwholesome thoughts and actions,

Able to discern the choices we make,

Build resilience,

Increase our window of tolerance for better navigating the difficulties that life brings.

Mindfulness practices help us to cultivate understanding and bring more meaning to our life.

Whether new to meditation or well-established in practice,

A resting place,

Sometimes referred as our anchor,

Is something to develop and finesse as a resource.

The nuances of understanding and experience is not only for meditation,

But for being fully present in the experience of our everyday life.

We can be calming during stormy conversation,

A retreat when overwhelmed,

A place to restore reality when we are lost in fantasy,

A place to rest,

To take in and embrace the good and meaningful,

Able to appreciate the awe that is present every day.

Research has suggested that our ability to experience everyday awe has many benefits,

Including a greater sense of well-being,

Generosity,

Humility,

And critical thinking.

And it is a resource that can be available anytime,

Anywhere.

Life does not promise fulfillment or happiness,

And mindfulness can bring more meaning,

Purpose,

And contentment.

This practice will be approximately 15 minutes.

And to start practice,

Begin by finding a comfortable posture,

Feeling safe and comfortable and a place to just relax.

The invitation here is to notice what feels best for you.

This may change from practice to practice and from day to day in different circumstances.

Always remember this is your practice.

There is no right or wrong way to practice.

Stay comfortable and be kind to yourself throughout.

Forcing yourself to be with discomfort does not serve any useful purpose.

The point of exploring different contact points of attention is to discover what feels right for you in any given moment.

The breath is a common place to establish an anchor and is not always the most appropriate or comfortable.

If you ever feel overwhelmed,

You can shift your attention to something else and return when you're comfortable again.

Once comfortable,

Take a deep breath,

Settling in and closing your eyes or finding a soft downward gaze just in front of your feet.

Eyes closed is often recommended because it can help reduce distraction and the eyes can be open or closed.

Again,

This is your practice.

Do what is most comfortable.

And now take a few slow,

Deep breaths,

Relaxing and settling into just being here.

Notice the body breathing,

The expansion of the chest and belly on the inhale.

Maybe even noticing a little relaxation or sense of letting go of tension on the exhale.

Relax in the sense of your body breathing and letting go of the intentional breath and relax into the natural rhythm of breathing.

The slow,

Subtle,

Natural flow of breathing.

Letting the ebb and flow,

Bringing your attention to the subtle rise and fall of the chest or belly or maybe the cool air through the nostrils.

And rest here for a few moments,

Being fully aware of the body breathing,

Letting the breath be the focus of your attention.

Maybe you can bring a sense of awe or gratitude,

Noticing this seemingly simple nature of breathing,

Yet an extraordinary function of the body.

One of thousands performed effortlessly,

The body caring for itself.

Enclosing a focused attention or keeping a focused attention can be helpful sometimes in naming your attention.

This in breath,

This out breath or breathing in,

Breathing out.

Fear the attention to the breath is an anchor to find stability and presence in this moment.

When thoughts distract you and they will,

Just notice and bring your attention back to the breath.

It's very easy to get caught up in thinking and become distracted.

Often we don't even notice until we're fully wrapped up in a story or lost in thought.

And when you notice,

Just take your attention back to the breathing.

And now make a gentle transition to bring your attention to sound.

Notice what can be heard.

It might be silence.

Sounds may come and go.

They might be near or in the distance.

Notice how sounds change.

They might be loud or soft.

You may even find that some are pleasing.

Try not to judge.

Just listen.

Notice how sound like thoughts and emotions and sensations change.

Rest here for a few moments and just listen.

Again,

If you notice being distracted by thoughts,

Notice them and return to sound.

And now bring your attention to the body.

Maybe take a brief scan from head to toe and notice what is present.

The body might feel comfortable and relaxed or maybe there's some tension or discomfort.

Just notice what is present without judging it or trying to change it.

Sometimes it can be helpful to bring some objectivity here.

Become less identified by noting the sensations and the nature of them.

Unpleasant,

Unpleasant or neutral.

And bring the attention to the body as a means to ground yourself,

Becoming familiar with a contact point.

Notice the feet on the floor.

See if you can sense the contact or maybe the buttocks in the chair or if lying down where the body makes contact with the bed,

Noticing that you're being supported by the chair or the bed.

And bring your attention to your hands.

Notice any sensation present,

The hands relaxed and supported,

Resting in your lap.

Find one of these contact points and just rest your attention there to the feet,

The body sitting,

The hands and rest there for a few moments.

Understanding this is a stabilizing and grounding place to rest your attention.

Again,

If you find yourself distracted,

Just notice and simply bring your attention back to the body.

The ability to notice that you've become distracted is mindfulness.

Just resting with a focused attention,

Being aware of any distraction.

Being distracted can happen frequently or occasional.

Reading the mind of thoughts during meditation is one of the biggest myths and misunderstandings.

Thinking is what the mind does.

Stopping your thoughts completely is like asking your eyes to stop seeing.

With continued practice,

You will notice the mind does become quieter and tends to slow down.

Distractions are noticed more readily and easier to recover from.

Allowing yourself to develop the kind attention to what is present,

Noticing distraction without judgments,

Without needing to fix or change them and just developing awareness to what is present.

Maybe even being surprised and becoming more curious and less judgmental.

And now resting for a few moments with a full awareness to being present in the body.

Breathing,

Sitting here where there is contact,

Noticing any sounds that are present.

Seeing what is directly related to being in the body in this moment,

Here and now,

Staying focused on what is present and resting here for a few moments.

As we start to move towards closing,

Rest your attention to anywhere that has felt particularly comfortable to you.

It might be the breath or sounds or contact points.

Find a place to rest your attention and stabilize yourself there and get a sense of establishing a resting place,

Feeling anchored,

Stable and safe,

A place to take pause.

A resting place can be a point of focus during meditation practice and a place to rest your attention at any moment during the day.

In closing,

A few words from Viktor Frankl,

An Austrian neurologist,

Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor.

He and his family were taken to concentration camps during World War II where he lost his mother,

A brother,

His father and his wife.

In his book,

Man's Search for Meaning,

He writes,

Nothing can be taken from a man but one thing,

The last of human freedoms,

To choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances,

To choose one's own way.

When we are no longer able to change a situation,

We are challenged to change ourselves.

In stimulus and response,

There is a space and in that space is our power to choose our response and in our response lies our growth and our freedom.

Thank you for practicing with me and take a moment to acknowledge yourself for taking the time.