Sitting Meditation

The sitting mindfulness meditation practice offers an anchor for yourself in the present moment. Practicing this meditation trains your attention to cultivate awareness to help cope with stress.

This meditation is led by The Centre for Mindfulness Studies' facilitator Gwen Morgan.

Transcript

Welcome to this sitting meditation practice.

As you are settling for this 20-minute mindfulness of breath and body practice,

Acknowledging your commitment to self-care in taking this time to be with yourself and for yourself,

Stepping out of the busyness of life into a period of stillness,

A time for simply being and for being in and practicing awareness.

If you are sitting on a chair,

Adopting an upright posture,

Self-supporting away from the back of the chair with your feet flat on the floor,

Or if you are on cushions,

Raising the hips slightly,

Allowing the knees to fall to the floor or to be supported,

Allowing your head to be balanced over your shoulders,

Shoulders over your hips,

Chest is open,

Hands in your lap,

Adopting a posture of dignity,

A posture of wakefulness and openness to the experience of the moment,

However it is,

Pleasant,

Unpleasant or neutral.

And when you are ready,

Bringing your attention to the sensations of breathing happening in the body,

The body is breathing itself.

We don't have to think about breathing,

We don't have to remember to breathe,

We don't have to try to make the breath a certain way,

We don't have to do anything.

We can step out of the doing mode simply allowing the breath to be as it is and allowing attending to the physical sensations of breathing to bring you into the present moment,

Breathing happening only here and now.

So attending to the sensations of breathing in the body,

Being aware of the full in-breath and the full out-breath coming and going in a continuous rhythmic cycle.

As you are paying attention to the natural sensations of breathing,

Noticing where you are feeling the sensations of the breath most strongly in the body.

You may be noticing the coolness of the air right at the tip of the nostrils or perhaps sensations at the back of the throat or a gentle movement in the chest as the lungs are filling up with air and emptying or a gentle rise and fall of the belly with the movement of the diaphragm,

Belly rising on the in-breath,

Falling on the out-breath.

Just noting how there is a slight pause at the end of the in-breath and a pause again at the end of the out-breath when the breathing turns.

Wherever you are noticing the sensations of the breath most vividly,

Focusing your awareness of the sensations of breathing in this place,

Holding your attention steady here as best you can.

And you will notice,

Most likely you have already noticed,

Although the instructions seem simple enough to stay focused on the breath,

Your attention has shifted or got lost perhaps in thinking,

Remembering a past event or planning,

Rehearsing,

Worrying or something else has grabbed your attention,

Sounds,

A strong body sensation or perhaps an impulse to move or some other reaction.

As soon as you notice your attention has moved away from the physical sensations of breathing,

Then simply noting what is on the mind and gently returning your attention to the actual sensations present now.

In this way,

Allowing awareness of breathing to be like an anchor,

Bringing you into present moment awareness.

So staying present with sensations of breathing as best you can.

And when you are ready,

On an out-breath letting go and along with an in-breath expanding your awareness around the breath to include the sense of the whole body sitting here.

Just feeling sensations arising from where the body is touching surfaces or the feel of the air moving against the skin or sensations arising from inside the body.

Sensations of breathing still present but bringing a wider,

More spacious awareness to the moment,

Allowing your attention to move freely to where physical sensations are arising and passing in the body.

And exploring these patterns of sensation with a gentle and investigative curiosity for as long as they are holding your attention.

镜 An article 2014 There may be many different sensations you are experiencing in the body.

Tingling,

Itching,

Pulsating,

Tension,

Pain.

Seeing if it is possible to let go of thinking about the sensations and directly experiencing the sensations,

Moving your attention into the feelings,

The sensations,

Whether they are pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Or neutral.

Bringing this sense of investigative curiosity to what is showing up,

How they are.

Seeing if it is possible to bring an attitude of acceptance to whatever the experience is right now.

And again,

Noticing when attention has wandered,

Perhaps into thinking.

And when you notice,

Simply noting what is on the mind and shifting your attention back to the actual physical sensations as they are arising and passing in the body.

It is entirely normal for the attention to wander,

So letting go of criticizing or judging yourself.

Rather allowing the recognition of wandering attention to be a moment of waking up to your experience and opportunity to be present again.

Over and over,

Choosing to stay present,

Allowing attending to the sensations in the body to bring you into present moment awareness.

In the last few moments of this practice,

Becoming aware if your posture has collapsed in any way.

And when you are ready,

Letting go of awareness of the body and shifting your attention back to the sensations of breathing,

Wherever you are noticing them most strongly now.

Sitting here in stillness and silence,

Seeing if you can give your complete attention to the sensations of breathing,

Maintaining your attention on the breath as best you can,

Until you hear the sound of the bell which will bring this practice to a close.

Perhaps this new telephone requests,

Having the opportunity to move in the same way of

Reviews

The sitting meditation was great. Highly recommend it

🤗🤗🤗

Very calming and simple

Love this meditation and I also love your voice. Thank you 🙏

She does a great job leading this. Thanks.

This is a great one to start your day. Thank you.

A really beautiful meditation ❤

Very simple but very effective mindfulness practice with the right balance between instructions and silence 🙏👍

Very helpful instructions, gave me new and good input for my meditation. Just exactly the right pauses/space to practice.

Very helpful. Clear directions and lots of quiet space for the practice. Thank you

Simple direct instruction

Classic mbsr verbal guidance with lots of silence in between which was refreshing and needed for me. Reminded me of the in person meditation course I recently completed and enjoyed. Very soothing voice also.

Nice voice. Very good 20 minute basic breathing mindfulness meditation. Includes quiet time to meditate "on your own".

About as basic as it gets:A clear voice gently guiding the meditator back to this moment, this breath, this body. Good for beginners as well as those who want a chance to be reminded of the power of remaining here and now.

🔥
♥️

I was writing some notes, and the gentle suggestion to check my posture helped me straighten my neck and back, assuming a regal posture. The whole task became easier❗️

Powerful practice for staying present. Namaste.

Very well balanced sitting meditation with a warming guiding voice and enough space. Bookmarked!

Beautifully spoken with just enough silence... thank you 🙏🏻