Welcome to this guided anchor meditation practice.
Much like the anchor of a ship keeps a boat from going adrift,
An anchor within a meditation practice provides a single pointed focus of attention that lands us in the present moment and gives us something to return to when the mind becomes distracted.
Working with an anchor helps to strengthen our capacity to direct,
Focus,
And concentrate the attention while developing our ability to reside in the present moment.
For this guided practice we will be working with three different sources of anchoring sound,
Body sensations,
And the breath.
Inevitably as you practice working with each of these anchors the mind will drift into wandering.
When you notice these moments arise simply bring yourself back to your anchor without judgment or criticism towards yourself and simply begin again.
In making this return to your anchor time and again you're strengthening your capacity to pay attention to what's happening in the present moment.
As you explore the anchors offered in this meditation see if you can identify one that is most easily accessible to you and begin working with it on your own as you become comfortable with the practice.
Perhaps starting with just a few minutes every day and building upon that over time.
As your attention becomes steadier you may find you have a greater capacity to ride the waves of daily life.
So let's begin by finding a comfortable seated position and closing the eyes if that feels right for you or perhaps just softening your gaze and taking a moment here to simply notice the fact that your body's sitting.
Feeling into points of contact that your body makes with the chair or cushion you rest upon.
Feeling into the spine and sitting with a sense of poise,
Wakefulness.
Lengthening through the spine all the way through the neck and the head.
Allowing the spine to remain flexible and not rigid.
Feeling into the drape of your arms and perhaps having a sense of where your hands are making contact with your body and really connecting with the support of the surface beneath you.
Noticing how the body is held and as you're ready to we'll begin to bring into the foreground of our attention sound.
Opening the ears to hearing.
Taking in any sounds that are in your external or even your internal environment.
Allowing sound to be received and doing this with a sense of receptivity not judging or critiquing what you hear nor categorizing what you hear.
Just being open to the experience of hearing and when you notice the mind becoming distracted gently bringing yourself back to hearing.
Perhaps you'll begin to notice the variety of sounds in your environment.
Their textures and varying intensities.
Perhaps noticing the durations of sounds.
How some sounds linger while others come and go.
You might even notice your own preferences arising.
How some sounds are more pleasant than others or liking certain sounds and disliking other sounds.
Just doing your best here to stay open and receptive to everything that is being heard by the ears.
And now allowing sound to move into the background of your experience as felt sensations in the body come into the foreground.
There are a few ways we can work with body sensations.
You might choose to attend to sensations at the bottom of the feet.
Or perhaps noticing sensations in the palms of the hands.
Or where the body makes contact with your chair or cushion.
So choosing one of these and just noticing sensations as they're experienced in this area of the body moment by moment.
Perhaps noticing sensations associated with warmth or coolness.
Perhaps dryness or moisture.
Feeling sensations associated with movements such as circulation or vibration or pulsation.
So just staying present moment to moment with whatever is arising in this area of the body that you've chosen.
And if you become distracted,
Just simply bring yourself back to that felt sensation that can be known in your body.
Perhaps you'll notice how sensations are not static experiences.
That even when the attention is focused on just one area of the body,
Sensations are constantly changing and shifting.
There is a vitality in the body that can be felt and known moment by moment.
So just staying with these changing sensations,
Doing your best to maintain your attention to the felt experience.
And when you're ready,
We'll begin moving body sensations into the background and allowing the breath to take center stage.
Feeling the breath as it moves into and out of the body.
Not needing to control the breath in any way,
But just allowing the body to be breathed.
Breathing in,
Knowing you're breathing in.
And breathing out,
Knowing you're breathing out.
You might have a sense of the breath moving through the nostrils or the back of the nose or the throat.
Or perhaps feeling into the rise and fall of the ribcage or abdomen as you breathe.
So just allowing the attention to rest here with these felt sensations of breathing.
Perhaps you're able to sense into the inhale and the brief pause as that inhale becomes an exhale.
And the pause once again before the exhale becomes an inhale.
Just sensing into this rhythm of the breath.
And if the mind becomes distracted,
Just continuing to bring yourself back as many times as you need to.
Allowing yourself to just continue to abide in the rhythm of the breath moment to moment.
And when you're ready to we'll begin to expand to have a sense of the whole body sitting here once again.
Noticing points of contact that the body makes with the surface beneath it.
Feeling where the feet are making contact with the floor.
Feeling into the sense of gravity against the body or the weight of the body.
Connecting with the breath and our breathing as we sit here.
Just noticing our aliveness moment by moment.
And allowing things to be just as they are.
