The turning towards difficulty meditation.
What we're going to do in this meditation practice is begin to explore an approach mode of mind,
Moving towards what's difficult,
Allowing it,
Letting it be,
Rather than moving away from it.
So let's begin by taking a few moments just to arrive in this place,
Right here,
Right now,
This moment.
Taking a moment just to shift your attention from thinking to sensing.
Feeling sensations down at your feet perhaps or where your body meets the chair.
Noticing sensations at your hands perhaps,
Touch,
Pressure,
Contact.
Becoming aware of the breath and just beginning to settle the attention with each in-breath and each out-breath.
And for just a few moments we'll follow each in-breath and each out-breath.
Okay.
Now take a few moments just to think of something that's a little troubling,
Just a minor hassle in life right now.
Something you'd rather wasn't the case in a little way,
Something you'd prefer wasn't here.
Without this little thing things would seem somehow to be easier,
So it might be a small physical discomfort or an event that happened very recently or maybe something you've forgotten and wish you'd remembered or just a little thing.
And if your attention's gone to a big thing maybe see if you can move your attention back into the body,
To the breath,
Follow a few breaths and then come back to looking for a little thing,
A minor hassle.
And as you call that minor hassle to mind just see what comes with it.
Notice any tightening in the body,
Noticing any change in the rhythm of breathing,
Noticing any change in the patterns of thinking and moving again to the body,
To the breath.
Just feeling what's here.
So sensing in the body right now what comes along with this hassle,
Tightening,
Holding,
Clenching,
Faster breathing,
Changed heart rate,
Anything,
Whatever you notice.
And now just keeping your attention with these sensations,
These feelings in the body.
And what we're doing now is just finding a different way to be with this hassle,
A way which is kind of able to get more interested in what comes along with it.
Rather than trying to get rid of it we're now just moving a bit more towards it with interest,
With curiosity,
With allowing,
Opening,
Letting it be.
Here it is.
It's like this.
So what would it be like now just to settle around this,
To allow it,
To let it be?
Opening and softening.
Moving our attention towards what's here with interest and curiosity with some kindness.
Just letting what's here be what's here.
No fighting,
No struggling.
Just letting it be.
And if it helps you could say to yourself,
It's okay,
I can be with this.
I can be with this,
It's okay.
So letting what's here be what's here and just breathing with it.
And if you're finding that your pattern of experiencing is changing in this process,
Things begin to shift and move,
Well just tracking that.
If you're finding that there are different sensations in the body now,
Well just tracking these.
If there's a difference in the rhythm of breathing,
Well just noticing that.
If there's a change in the pattern of thinking,
Again just noticing,
Allowing,
Letting this moment be now,
What it actually is.
And perhaps just gradually settling your attention with the breath for a short while.
Maybe even putting that difficulty to one side.
And just following each in-breath and each out-breath.
Just being here.
Right here,
Right now.
Just this.
And when you're ready,
In your own time,
Gradually beginning to bring this practice to a close,
Opening your eyes and coming to move again.
