Thanks for watching!
And congratulations for taking this time for yourself for this guided exercise called Using the Body as a Support for Mindfulness or simply Mindfulness of the Body.
Our intention here is to cultivate three main qualities of mind,
Relaxation,
Presence and awareness with an underlying attitude of kindness.
First of all I invite you to adopt a posture of mindfulness,
Whether you're sitting down in a chair or standing or even lying down.
The body is still and at ease.
The back straight,
Creating a certain alertness,
Alert and relaxed.
Maybe there's hands resting lightly on the knees if you're sitting in a chair.
There's a little bit of space between the torso and the arms creating an inner nobility in the posture.
Stable like a mountain,
Like a warrior.
And then the eyes are open with a soft gaze down into the space in front of us.
And then allowing the awareness to flood down into the body,
Noticing any physical sensations wherever they arise in the space of the body.
Could be a sense of solidity or pressure or contact where your seat or your buttocks meet the chair.
Or it could be tingling in the hands or feet of buzzing.
Or maybe noticing temperature in the forehead or inside the body.
Maybe some moisture,
Liquidity in the stomach or in the mouth.
All of these are sensations,
Physical sensations.
And this is what we're placing our attention on in this exercise.
Placing attention on physical sensation wherever they arise in the space of the body.
We're not trying to change these at all.
We're not trying to have more or fewer sensations or different sensations.
We're just observing,
Witnessing,
Tuning in with what's already going on.
And then each time the mind gets distracted,
Starts wandering off thinking about something in the past or the future.
Or getting distracted by sights or sounds,
Very gently returning attention to the direct experience,
Sensations in the body.
Again,
If thoughts arise and we get dragged off,
Then just very gently,
Very simply coming back again and again.
Raining our attention,
Bringing it back.
Sensations in the space of the body.
Continue for a few seconds in silence.
And then releasing all effort or particular attention.
Simply remaining relaxed and alert in the present moment.
As we continue on into our day,
As we move from this space,
Seeing whether we can bring these qualities of relaxation,
Presence and awareness into the rest of the day.
