The Zoom Sessions No. 18: Saturday Meditation Drop In 25th July 2020

This is a live field recording of our Zoom drop-in meditation session hosted on Saturday, 25th July 2020; so there is some background noise. These free live sessions were offered to help people feel grounded during the CoVid-19 pandemic and the various lockdowns that were taking place around the world.

The full session contains a body scan, a guided mindfulness awareness practice, and an examen, a review of our day as it was.

Please note: The audio is not recorded in a studio.

Transcript

Hello my name is Matt Albury.

The following session is a live recording of a Zoom meditation session that happened on the 25th July 2020.

This is our last session for the summer and it will contain a body scan and a guided mindfulness awareness practice.

The session was recorded on a laptop live and there is some background noise as when this was recorded it was a particularly windy day so you may hear some wind sound in the background.

Okay then guys so just allow yourself to get nice and comfortable first then just whatever position helps you just to feel comfortable.

Just allow yourself to settle into that space.

And then we'll do our grounding technique so just bring your awareness to the sensation of the feet on the floor.

Just noticing that.

And then take your awareness then up to the chair that's supporting you or the cushion.

Just notice the physical sensations of that chair or that cushion.

And then when you're ready just close your eyes and we'll take two breaths to settle us in.

So take a lovely deep breath in through the nose and sigh out through the mouth.

And we'll do that again,

Lovely deep breath in.

And then just take a moment just to be aware of the space you're in.

Just being aware of what it feels like to be in your body at the moment.

And then take a moment just to set an intention for your practice,

What you need this to be for you now.

So these next few minutes of meditation what you need them to be for you.

And then when you're ready we'll start our body scan.

So take your awareness to the bottom of the feet.

Flowing your awareness up onto the toes,

Tops of the feet and the ankles.

And just notice the physical sensations there.

And then allow your awareness to flow up through the low legs,

Noticing the shins and the calf muscles.

Taking your awareness to your knees,

Your thighs,

Your hips and your backside.

Just notice the physical sensations there.

And then flow your awareness then up through from the hips up onto the belly and the lower back.

Taking the awareness up onto the upper back and the chest.

Taking your awareness up onto your shoulders.

And just notice all the physical sensations in your torso.

And then flow your awareness then down through the upper arms and the shoulder joints.

And through your elbows,

Your forearms,

Your wrists.

Taking the awareness then out onto the backs of the hands and the palms of the hands.

Taking your awareness to your thumbs,

Your first fingers,

Second fingers,

Third fingers and fourth.

And then gently flow your awareness all the way from the tips of the fingers all the way back up through your arms up to your shoulder joints.

Just notice the physical sensations there.

And then flow your awareness across then up onto your throat and the back of the neck.

Taking the awareness out onto the jaw,

Up to the mouth.

Notice in the lips,

The teeth,

The gums,

The insides of the cheeks,

The roof of the mouth,

Tongue and the space underneath your tongue.

And then just take a moment just to notice the tastes and the physical sensations present there in your mind.

And then flow your awareness up onto the nose and the nostrils.

Around onto your ears.

Flowing your awareness around onto the eyelids,

The eyelashes and the eyes themselves.

And then allow your awareness to flow up onto the forehead,

The back of the head and then up onto the crown.

And then as if you've been emptied out through the bottom of your feet,

Just allow yourself to scan all the way back through your body,

All the way down to the tips of the fingers and the tips of the toes,

As if you're being emptied out.

And at this moment just let go of anything that you want to let go of as well,

Just picturing it leaving your body,

Going through the bottom of the feet into the ground below you.

So just allow this time of emptying just to occur as you scan your way back through your body.

And then when you're ready,

Scan all the way back through your body as if you're being filled afresh,

All the way up to the crown of the head.

Just in your own time,

Just noticing what's there as you flow.

Now when you reach the crown of the head,

Just take again a moment just to notice what it feels like to be in your body,

In the space that you're in.

Just noticing that unique presence of you,

You as you are in your body,

In the space that you're in.

Now just say the mindfulness mantra a couple of times before we start.

So there's nowhere to go,

Nothing to do,

No one to be.

So in this moment we've got nowhere to go,

Nothing to do,

No one to be.

Nowhere to go,

Nothing to do,

No one to be.

So to start our practice then we'll bring our awareness then to the breath at the nostrils.

So that's the first place we'll bring our awareness.

So just for a moment just watch the breath coming in out of the nose,

Noticing the sensations,

Noticing the temperature differences.

And then when you're ready just allow your awareness of your breath just to open up your nose.

So we open out then,

So we follow the breath as it comes down to the back of the throat,

Into the lungs,

Into the belly.

We watch all the lovely delicate little movements that just take place as this breath rolls in.

Trying to change the rhythm,

Just noticing what's happening.

Then just watch for the little pause that occurs before your breath starts to leave again.

And then we watch the movement again as the breath leaves.

Then we notice the pause before we start to breathe back in.

So just allow your awareness just to settle there,

Just with your lovely breath moving in,

Moving out and all the gentle movements.

Just allow yourself just to stay there,

Just watching that breath rolling in,

Rolling out.

Just keeping that sort of mystery of this beautiful breath rolling in and all the way it moves the body and then watching it roll back out.

Just a bit like the little wave on the beach,

Just so it rolls in and rolls back out.

Just a little bit like the little wave on the beach,

Just a little bit like the little wave on the beach.

So then there's the option now just to follow your awareness out then onto the body.

So at this moment we're just noticing all the physical sensations that are present in our body.

We do this in a way of acceptance,

So whether we feel the sensation is good or bad we actually just accept the sensations there at this moment.

Just noticing what's there.

When you do this you might want to notice how the softness in your hands and your lap,

Softness in your arms.

But as we bring this observation it's just with that sense of acceptance.

This is how I feel at this moment.

Then when you're ready now just allow your awareness to come gently without any effort away from watching the body back to the breath.

So we're just watching again the whole journey of the breath in and out of the body.

Just noticing the stages of the breath that it rolls in.

Movement your ribs and your back and your belly.

Just a little pause and then watching the breath roll back out again.

So we just do this without any effort.

We're not trying to force anything,

We're just sitting with our breath.

Our heads go off,

That's fine.

We just come back with our effort just to watch the breath rolling in and rolling out.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

And then when you hear the bell start to bring us to our awareness of our thoughts.

So the nature of this part of the practice is we just watch the nature of the thoughts,

How they calm and go.

How they're not permanent.

How they just roll in and roll out.

Often we feel overwhelmed by our thoughts.

We take them as truth.

When we just sit and watch them and not get worried about what the thoughts are about.

Just notice and we just notice how they calm and go.

Even if our minds are busy they just calm and go.

So we just allow ourselves just to settle into that observation of the thoughts.

And at any time that you get hooked on a thought just notice that what you've done and just allow yourself just again to come back without effort just to watch in the thoughts calm and go.

One of the keys is to have that sense of kindness to yourself.

We're not putting pressure on ourselves we're just watching.

That's all we're doing.

We're sat in a comfortable posture just watching the thoughts calm and go.

No judgements.

Just allowing us to roll in and roll out.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And then when you're ready in your own time just come away from watching the thoughts again just returning back to your breath.

And this is where we'll just continue now watching the breath until I guide us through the examining of the day at the end.

We just come back to watch that lovely rhythm of your breath.

Just noticing all the subtle movements.

And again you might want to bring awareness to the softness of your hands in your lap,

Softness in your arms.

If you're finding that your mind's particularly busy tonight just picture as your breath comes in that little wave rolling up a sort of shallow beach just a lovely little wave rolling in.

And as the breath leaves the body a little wave rolls back to the body of the water.

There's a little option just to put a little visualisation into your breath rolling in like a wave and rolling back out.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

As we draw towards the end of our practice I'll now guide us in a review of our day,

An examen of our day.

We begin by lighting a candle.

Come home to yourself.

Come home.

Lovingly welcome into your home the person that you are.

Let your hands find rest and allow your hands to hold the weave from your day.

Come home.

As we remember the day as it was remember a moment of life,

A moment of light,

Something that energised you.

And gently revisit this just bringing your attention to what it was about that situation that made you feel alive,

That brought you life.

Be still.

Be grateful.

As we remember the day as it was remember a moment that might have brought frustration or disappointment or perhaps even despair and gently revisit this to allow it to live again in your mind's eye.

But as you do this do this with compassion and gentleness towards yourself.

Noticing in particular what it was that caused feelings of frustration or disappointment.

Be still.

Be accepting.

And then gather the moment of life and light and the moment of disappointment or frustration and bring them to your heart centre,

The centre of your chest allowing the divine love within you to take these moments from your day.

Trusting them to the divine love that dwells within you.

Be still.

Be still.

And then we take a moment just to think of tomorrow.

Take this moment just to think of the things that you would like to do or maybe the things you feel you need to do.

Or also take this time to think through any intentions you would like to bring into your day,

Any qualities you would like to see tomorrow.

Maybe qualities of being compassionate towards yourself or more patient with others.

But just take this moment to think about tomorrow and the qualities that are right for you.

Be still.

And trust for your tomorrow.

And as I gently blow out the candle just return your awareness where we started at the practice to the breath at the nostrils.

So just return your awareness to that key point of where the breath comes in and leaves the body.

Just allow yourself just to settle there until you hear the chimes of the bowl.

And then we'll do our grounding technique together and that will be the end of our practice.

Thank you.

So bring your awareness back to the sounds where you are.

So just noticing the sounds around you maybe outside of the room where you are and the sounds inside.

And then gently take your awareness then down to the sensation of the cushion or the chair that supported you.

And just notice that physical contact that's there.

And then take your awareness then down to the bottom of the feet and if your feet are on the floor just notice that firmness of the floor that supported you the whole time we've practiced.

And then we'll take two breaths.

So breath in through the nose and sigh out for the mouth.

Take a lovely breath in through the nose.

We'll do that again.

Lovely deep breath in.

And then gently move very slowly and gently because you've been sat for a while and open your eyes when you're ready.