Let's feel I see Let me touched.
Hole!
!
In this practice,
We'll explore mindfulness of the mind,
Using our thoughts as the anchor for meditation practice.
For many people,
This sort of flips the practice around on its head.
It's easy to think that meditation is about not thinking,
But at least a mindfulness practice allows us to cultivate an intimacy,
An immediacy of our attention to this present moment,
Whatever is happening,
And that includes even our thoughts.
So this practice can be done standing,
Sitting,
Or lying down,
Eyes open or closed.
See what feels most supportive for you to come into some ease and some wakefulness.
You might want to start by taking a few deep breaths in and out if that feels supportive,
Restful.
And then let the breath find its own rhythm.
No need to make it slow or deep,
Short or shallow.
You might also like to notice the weight of the body,
The touch points where flesh is in touch with the ground or a chair or a bed.
These heavy points,
These places of pressure,
Of clear sensation for most of us.
And can you let the body relax a little bit more?
Let the earth hold the body a little bit more.
If you notice any tensions,
You're welcome to soften and settle those without pushing the tension away.
Allow experience to be as it is and see what happens with this kind of curiosity that might invite some softening,
But no forcing needed.
And now we're going to return our attention specifically to the thinking mind,
The cognizing capacity of our consciousness.
There may be a lot of thoughts,
There may be very few,
There may be cloudy or clear.
And of course,
Thoughts are connected to emotions.
So we don't need to have a sharp delineation between thoughts and emotions here.
The whole realm can be our sphere of exploration,
As well as the resting place for attention.
So in this practice,
There are no distractions.
Even distractions are our focus of attention or our resting place of attention.
So I'll guide us through mindfulness of the mind.
You might want to think of this practice like watching a movie screen,
Tuning in to notice all the thoughts that are passing through your mind.
This might be images in the head or words or felt impressions,
Memories,
Plans.
And one thought often leads to the next.
And at some point,
All of us are bound to get drawn into the thinking.
You don't need to stop the thinking but add mindfulness.
You know,
If you want to add a few gentle words to note to help you stay present to mindfulness of the mind,
You're welcome.
But you can drop the noting,
The words,
If they become distracting themselves.
So we're witnessing the thinking mind in action.
And over time,
You'll start to notice thoughts arise,
Stay for a while,
Change and pass.
They might be racing or fuzzy,
Spinning,
Quiet,
All sorts of qualities of thinking.
And that's more important to notice than the actual thoughts themselves.
What's the quality of the thinking mind right now?
And at some point,
There will be gaps between the thoughts.
We can notice this too.
Another common image is that thoughts are like clouds passing through the sky.
And that's the quality of our consciousness.
So we're watching or sensing,
Listening to thoughts float by and remembering that there is something bigger that is holding the thoughts that is witnessing the thoughts.
So from time to time,
I will drop in the instruction,
How is the mind?
As an invitation to watch the clouds float through the bigger sky.
How is the mind?
How is the mind?
How is the mind?
How is the mind?
Right now,
How is the mind?
How is the mind?
How is the mind?
How is the mind?
How is the mind?
