Practice 2 Mindfulness Meditation Come into a seated posture that can be sitting on a chair or you can sit with your legs crossed on the floor and have your back relatively upright.
The reason for this is it promotes a sense of wakefulness,
Of being awake.
So apply that to the mind,
A sense of wakefulness.
Then allowing the eyes to gently close if you haven't already.
Taking your attention to the top of your head.
Feeling whatever you can feel on the top of your head right now.
That might be tingling,
Itching,
Tension,
Coolness,
Warmth,
Whatever you feel just let it be.
Relax.
We're upright but we're relaxed.
So relax the scalp now.
Then take your attention down into your forehead.
Feeling again whatever you can feel.
Allowing the forehead to relax.
Then sweep your attention down into the eyes.
Making sure the eyes aren't squeezed shut.
Then take your attention down into the cheeks.
Relaxing.
Making sure the jaw is not clenched,
Allowing that to relax too.
Then sweep your attention down the front of your neck.
All the time stopping to observe.
Any sensations that stand out to you.
Then along the collarbones,
The shoulders.
Relaxing.
Letting the shoulders drop.
And keeping your attention on your shoulders for a minute.
Seeing if you can feel the very subtle rising and falling that happens at the shoulders.
This happens with the breath.
Then scan your attention down the upper arms.
Elbows and forearms.
Slowly moving down.
Stopping and observing when a sensation stands out.
Relaxing.
Letting go.
Relaxing.
Then take your attention into the palms of your hands.
What can you feel here right now?
Then along your fingers and sweep the attention back up into your chest.
The chest area.
Feeling whatever you can feel.
Relaxing.
Then down into the abdomen.
And along the tops of the legs.
All the time stopping to observe any sensation that stands out.
Be with it and explore it.
Watch it change and then move on.
Getting down until you reach your knees.
Observing the knees.
And then down the shins.
Tops of the feet.
And the soles.
You might find that you can feel the soles of your feet connected to the earth.
The pressure of the weight of the body meeting the earth at the feet.
Then scan your attention up the back of your legs,
The calves.
Again relaxing.
Letting go.
Feeling whatever is present.
Sign up the backs of the thighs and the buttocks.
Feeling the support and the weight.
They hold the weight of the body so feel that contact.
Then scan your attention up the lower back.
Back of the neck.
And up the back of the head.
And back to the top of your head.
Again feeling whatever you can feel.
Then taking your attention out into the whole body.
Feeling the body as a whole.
Using any tension you can find.
Looking for the sensations of the breath.
This might be the wind moving in and out of the nostrils.
It might be the chest or the abdomen.
Choose a place where you can feel it.
You can feel the in-breath and the out-breath.
And do this in a relaxed state of mind.
Don't struggle with the breath.
Don't.
Pull it in and force it out.
Just allow it to be.
Wherever you're observing the breath from,
See if you can be with it for the whole of an in-breath and the whole of an out-breath.
And doing this from a peaceful mind.
Relaxed.
Not too much effort.
Your mind will wander and that's fine.
You can say to yourself,
Thinking,
Thinking and bring it back.
Back to the sensations of the breath.
So no judgement when the mind wanders.
Just simply relax.
And we're now going to bring this meditation to a close.
But keep your eyes closed.
Stay still.
And drop all effort.
Just be.
Opening the awareness to sounds.
Coming back into the room you're in.
And allowing the eyes to slowly and gently open.
And move mindfully.
Stretch.
And the meditation is now over.
