Basic Mindfulness

This is a short guided mindfulness practice meditation. It instructs those that have experience in mindfulness as well a beginner to the practice. A focus is brought to the breath as well as the body to establish an anchor and create a practice around mindfulness.

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Mignon and I am the founder of Major Healing.

I am so grateful and humbled you chose this meditation and short talk to begin your day.

I wanted to touch on a topic for us in the meditation world,

Mindfulness of the body.

A phrase or a quote that I heard,

Who I believe was by Jon Kabat-Zinn,

Really captures the essence of what mindfulness is.

And that is,

If you wish to be happy and calm,

Keep the mind in the body.

I'd like to start out with just acknowledging the land and the ancestors,

The original stewards of the land that I'm on.

That would be the indigenous people of the Duwamish as well as the Coast Salish.

And some of the original languages that are spoken,

Not nearly all of them,

Are Terena,

Wawa,

And Yanda,

And Mosquito.

I apologize if I butchered those in any way.

So often throughout our day,

We unconsciously are doing,

Going,

And checking off the tasks from both our work and self-imposed to-do lists.

We more often than not walk around in a state that has been referred to by or as monkey mind,

Going from thought to thought,

Or as a monkey would do from limb to limb.

Another saying that also pops up and was really impactful to my own practice is that we live essentially from our neck up.

Essentially the practice of mindfulness of the body is bringing us back home.

Mindfulness is a non-judgmental,

Caring attention to the here and now.

Some of the traditional Sanskrit components of mindfulness consists of two parts.

The first part is the receptive aspect.

It's a spacious,

Kind awareness of the present.

This is not a cognitive action per se,

Which is in the practice.

In part two of that,

Also traditional Sanskrit is the active aspect,

Which is an appropriate response to the present situation.

There are four foundations in which mindfulness falls upon.

First mindfulness of the body,

Mindfulness of feelings,

Mindfulness of thoughts and beliefs,

And mindfulness of the process of life itself.

Our focus on mindfulness of the body can often bring up questions of curiosity.

Why is it essential to become aware in the body?

Our body or our home allows the greatest level of trust you can bear or carry.

Keeping the mind in the body means maintaining a state of awareness of the body in the sensations,

Breaths,

And comings and goings of feelings.

With the mind in the body,

We can regulate our responses to events,

People,

And situations,

Maintaining a reactory state,

Which puts stress on the body and our nervous systems.

With the mind in the body,

We can set up an early awareness and detection of our nervous system in action with the fight,

Flight,

Or freeze response,

Which for some of us that have experienced trauma can be in a constant state of flipped on or hypervigilance is another way you may have heard of this term.

With the mind in the body,

We can notice muscular tension and release it within minutes.

With the mind in the body,

We can observe habitually tense and tight areas needing an increased relaxation effort.

With the mind in the body,

We can allow awareness of signs of tension and perceived danger in others and adjust our responses skillfully.

When we are constantly in a state of the neck up functioning pattern,

Also in a possible disassociating pattern,

Mentally being shut off completely from the body,

The consequences are fatigue and exhaustion,

Anxiety,

Unhealthy escape habits such as food,

Or being cut off from the wisdom of your body,

Reacting in fight,

Flight,

Or freeze when in disassociation.

So in reconnecting to the body,

We practice becoming familiar with feeling from the inside out tuning to our inner body energy.

Grounding is another word for this reconnection with the body.

Feeling the feet on the ground while standing or sitting in a chair.

The breath is also an extremely powerful tool in reconnecting with the body.

It can be done anywhere and at any time to pause and create space and become more mindful of the body.

Inquiry or questions that you should ask yourself.

What is happening inside of me right now?

Where do I feel this in the body?

Really important one.

Can I be with this?

Can I sit in this space?

Even if just for a moment,

Can I be with this?

Asking yourself,

What is this really feeling like in the body?

We tend to feel things in the throat,

The chest,

And the stomach,

Which brings presence to the body.

Oftentimes if trauma has occurred,

We can have a difficult time with embodiment or mindfulness of the body.

That's okay.

Allow yourself grace.

It is a normal response to feel uncomfortable in our bodies.

Do not push and follow what feelings you may have and completely listen to your body when you have discomfort.

Simple activities can help not push the body and ease into awareness like walking,

Drinking tea,

Being outdoors,

And noting how that feels in certain places in the body during those actions.

What we're working towards is exploring and is the most impactful in this that it keeps us from being this trance that we can be in at times when we are not in embodiment.

It keeps us from being present,

Being in the body,

Even if just for a moment,

Asking what it's like to be in this body.

I will finish before we start the meditation with a quote.

When we cut off from the body's fear,

We are cutting off from the body's love and wisdom.

We are in the training field every day.

So finding a seated position that allows you to be alert if it is comfortable for your body to be in that seated position with your spine erect,

But not stiff and also relaxed.

If it's more comfortable for you to close your eyes,

Please do so.

A laying down posture is also totally okay.

Again,

We're practicing listening to the body and what is most comfortable for your body in this present moment.

Now allowing your awareness to scan through your body and wherever possible,

Softening and releasing obvious areas of physical tension.

You might take a few very full breaths and then allow your breath to be natural.

Breathing in through the nose,

Filling up the lungs and the chest,

Breathing out through the mouth.

Repeating this,

Breathing in through the nose,

Filling up the stomach and the chest and breathing out through the mouth.

Bringing your attention to where you most easily detect the breath or perhaps where it's most pleasurable,

Letting this place of experiencing the breath be your home base and anchor to the present moment.

This may be in the nostrils,

This may be on the upper lip,

This may be in the stomach,

This may also be in the chest.

If it's not quite possible for you to feel where the most comfortable place is to detect your breath,

That is okay.

Noticing that is okay.

Noticing this breath right here.

If the breath is not a good home base for you,

You might instead anchor or direct your attention in the sensations in your hand or you may notice sensations of your whole body sitting here.

Now with the relaxed,

Interested attention,

Discovering what the sensations of the breath or your chosen anchor feel like moment to moment.

Where is your attention now?

Each time you notice that your mind has wandered off as a moment of mindfulness,

Gently bringing your attention back to the inflow and outflow of the breath or your chosen anchor,

Extending and offering yourself a relaxed and wakeful presence.

Now scanning your body and noticing if any particular sensations are strong and calling your attention.

If so,

Allowing the breath or your home base or anchor to recede to the background and bringing an interested,

Kind presence to the sensations.

What do the sensations feel like?

You might be aware of heat.

You may feel chills,

Tingling,

Aching,

Twisting,

Stabbing,

Vibrating with a soft open awareness,

Feeling the sensations as they are,

Noticing are they pleasant or unpleasant?

As you fully attend to them,

Do they become more intense or dissipate,

Noting how those sensations change?

When the sensations are no longer a strong experience,

Returning to mindfulness of breathing or your chosen anchor.

If you find it difficult to stay with strong sensations,

You might breathe with them,

Letting the breath help you find some balance and openness in the midst.

It can also be helpful to name the sensations,

Seeing if there's a word that describes your experience,

Tightness,

Ache,

Heat,

Pressure.

There is no need to strain or to run through a mental thesaurus to find the right word.

Notice what word arises in awareness and mentally repeat it to yourself in a soft tone,

Letting the naming be soft in the background.

Five percent of your attention with 95 percent on the actual experience.

Hey,

Today it's sounding cool.

Ta da.

Shhhh.

Shhhh.

Shhhh.

You might begin to ask yourself,

What is happening inside me right now?

Noticing sensations that are predominant and then asking yourself,

Can I be with this?

Can I allow space for this?

Directly feeling the flow of sensation,

Subtle or strong,

Letting life be just as it is.

Now,

Returning to your home base,

The breath or anchor of particular sensations.

We're offering a calm and steady attention.

If during this last minute or so,

Strong sensations call your attention,

Letting your primary anchor recede and bringing a full attention again to what's arising,

Naming what you notice,

Offering your presence.

If nothing strong is calling your attention,

Continuing to rest with your home base,

Relaxed and alert.

Now,

As we begin to slowly end the meditation,

Relaxing still in the breath,

Being mindful in the body.

If you have chosen to close your eyes,

You may slowly link those open.

Allow yourself grace as you go on with your day.

Allow yourself the space to create,

To pause,

Even if for a moment,

Mindfulness can occur in our days.

I am completely humbled and thank you and appreciate you for coming and spending some of your day with me and allowing me to lead you into this meditation.

Namaste.

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