Welcome back.
Today we'll spend five minutes meditating again,
Because at this point there's really no hurry to keep adding on more time.
It's reasonable to stick with five minutes for a while,
Perhaps weeks or months even,
And then you can work your way up to ten minutes and beyond.
But you can accomplish a lot in just five minutes.
The secret,
Though,
Is to be diligent about the practice,
Coming back to the present moment again and again.
So you can begin to find yourself in whatever posture works for you,
With your eyes closed,
Tuning in to your internal world.
Here is a new version of you,
Because you're always changing.
So here you are today.
And what is this version of you like?
Just check it out.
So as usual,
Tuning in to your breath,
Using that as your anchor,
In and out,
In and out.
And remember,
It's not just about naming those breaths,
In and out,
Or counting them.
It's about really feeling them,
Experiencing that breathing.
So turn your attention to your belly,
Or your chest,
Or your nostrils,
Wherever you feel that breath moving in and out of your body.
And try to really focus your attention on those physical sensations of breathing.
Because when you get distracted,
When you go away to the past or the future,
Those things are all in the mind.
The past and the future are not happening right now,
They're not real in this moment.
They're just imaginings of your mind.
But when you come back to bodily sensations,
Those are happening right now.
Those are real.
So I invite you to feel your body.
Feel your body breathe.
And as thoughts come in,
You can practice naming those.
Thought.
Not describing them in terms of their content,
But just,
There's a thought.
Rather than diving into that thought and exploring its content,
You're just noticing,
Here's another thought.
Great.
And now back to the breath.
Thought.
Back to the breath.
Thought.
Back to the breath.
And as you do that,
Again and again,
You might begin to consider,
Who is it that is naming those thoughts?
Who is the you that is observing yourself meditate?
What is the thing that is separate from the thoughts,
From the thinking mind?
And whatever that is,
That is you.
Your thoughts don't have to be you.
That's why you can label them thought and let them gently fade away.
You can imagine clouds passing by in the sky.
Each cloud is a thought.
It slowly moves from one side of the sky to another,
And then it's gone.
And you're back at a clear sky.
And then another cloud.
And it fades away too.
In and out.
In and out.
And that's it.
Thank you for prioritizing this practice.
