Welcome to Mindfulness for a Busy Mind.
My name is Elfride Manahan Vaughan and I'm delighted to share this meditation with you today.
So before we begin,
Please ensure that you are sitting in a comfortable position,
In a straight-backed chair,
Or on the floor on a meditation cushion,
Or using a meditation stool.
Please place your hands in your lap in a comfortable position,
And ensure that your eyes are either closed,
If you wish to focus inward,
Or are slightly open with the eyelids lowered and your eyes defocus as you look towards the floor.
So we will begin.
So I'd like you now to bring awareness to your body as you sit or kneel.
Scanning from the top of your head down to the tips of your toes,
Notice any places of tension.
And without trying to change them in any way,
Simply bring awareness to how your body feels and then move on to another part of the body.
And once again going to the top of your head,
Please scan from the top of your head to the tips of your toes,
Noticing any places of relaxation.
And once again without trying to change what is happening to you,
Simply notice what you feel and then move on to another part of the body.
During this practice we will use our breath to bring us back to the present moment.
So if at any stage during this meditation your mind wanders or you become distracted,
Simply come back to your breath and begin again.
So we will notice our breath now at the tip of our nose.
What sensations do you feel here?
Can you notice the warmth or coolness of your breath?
Do you notice how deep your breath is or how shallow?
Do you notice how fast or slow your breathing?
Can you notice the length of your breath or the rise and fall of your chest or the movement of your belly in and out?
Be curious about your breath.
Notice it without judgement,
Without passing comment on your experience,
But simply being aware of it as it is.
And bring awareness to any sensations that arise in your body.
Are they urges to move?
Can you simply notice them as an urge?
Can you notice if there are sounds in your environment?
Can you simply hear them without listening to them?
Without feeding them with a thought about what they are,
Where they come from,
Who or what is making them?
And can you notice your thoughts?
Can you notice when a thought arises in your mind?
Can you become aware of the moment you get carried away in thinking?
Or how easy it is to feed each thought with a further thought?
Perhaps your thoughts bring images into your mind and you get carried away by the movie playing.
But can you simply be aware of the moment of thinking and bring awareness to the realisation of your thoughts?
When we sit in awareness of our thoughts without judging them,
Without passing comment,
Without feeding our thoughts with further thoughts,
We allow ourselves to become present with whatever arises.
We can simply notice the process of thinking and be present with it as it comes and goes.
A thought passes through our awareness.
We see it.
We feel it.
We may even hear it as we speak in the silence of our minds.
If we can notice the thought without adding anything to it,
We can allow the busy mind to slow down.
We can allow the gaps between our thoughts to widen.
And we can simply be present with our experience exactly as it is.
So we will notice our thoughts for a few moments in silence.
Watching,
Listening,
Feeling,
Hearing each thought as it emerges.
And when we realise that we are thinking,
Simply come back to our breath and begin again.
And it is okay to think.
It is okay if we have many thoughts in our busy mind.
It is the act of returning to the moment that is powerful.
The practice of mindfulness is coming back again and again and again.
So allow yourself to notice your thoughts,
To be with whatever arises in the moment.
And simply come back to your breath and begin again.
Thank you.
It is not the fact that our mind is busy that is the problem.
It is the fact that we continue to feed our thoughts with more thoughts.
If we simply notice the thoughts that arise,
We can become aware of the types of thoughts we have.
When we are slipping into anxiety and worry,
When we are becoming caught up in the future or revisiting the past.
To think is okay.
But to think of what is necessary,
Of what is important,
Of what is present,
Is most important.
So we allow ourselves to be present with our thinking without judgement.
And we sit with our thoughts,
Our body and our awareness in each moment.
Thank you for joining me in this mindful moment for a busy mind.
I look forward to you joining me again at a future time or in another meditation.
My name is Elfriede Manahan Vaughan.
Thank you for listening.
