Thank you so much for joining me for this concentration meditation.
Concentration is a meditation that I believe is so needed right now because we are bombarded with stimulus or stimuli is the better way for me to say that.
Take a moment to find a comfortable posture,
One that's both relaxed and alert.
You can close your eyes or leave them open.
And if you do choose to leave them open,
You'll be gazing a few feet in front of you.
Take another moment or two here,
Whatever you feel like you need to just adjust the seat.
As always,
When we meditate together,
You can be in a chair,
You can have your back to a wall,
Or you could even be reclining.
If that's more comfortable for your body.
Be aware of sounds coming and going.
Aware of sensations in your body.
Aware of thoughts and feelings.
Notice anything that is particularly distracting.
Be mindful of this distraction for a while,
And then see if you can shift your focus to the breath.
Form an intention for your meditation.
Perhaps with words or perhaps wordlessly.
Imagine being someone very focused,
Either a person you know or historical figure like the Buddha.
Imagine being someone who is very focused,
Historical figure like the Buddha.
Really relax.
Take a big inhalation and then exhale fully.
Feeling the tension leave your body.
Be aware of the internal sensations of breathing.
Cool air coming in and warm air going out.
The chest and the belly rising and falling.
Do not try to control the breath in any way.
Just allow it to be what it is.
Stay aware of the breath throughout the meditation,
Using it as a kind of anchor.
Feel as safe as you can.
You are in a protected setting,
Strong in yourself,
Able to relax vigilance and bring attention inward.
Find some compassion for yourself.
Bring to mind other positive feelings as well,
Including soft ones such as gratitude.
Sense the benefits of this meditation sinking into you,
Nurturing and helping you,
Gently inclining your mind and brain in an ever more wholesome direction.
For the next few minutes or more,
Try to stay present with each individual breath from beginning to end.
Imagine a little guardian in your mind who is watching your attention and will let you know right away if it starts to wander.
Give yourself over to each breath and abandon everything else.
Let go of past.
Let go of the future.
Let go of the present and be present with each breath.
Find a place where the physical sensations of breathing are prominent,
Such as the chest or the upper lip.
At the beginning of each inhalation,
Apply attention to these sensations.
Then sustain attention to them from beginning to end.
Be aware of the space between inhalation and exhalation.
Then apply attention to the exhalation and sustain attention to it all the way to its end.
If it helps,
Count each breath gently in your mind from one to ten,
Starting over if you lose track.
Or softly note the breath in,
Out,
As concentration deepens.
Let these words fall away.
Give yourself over to the breath,
Renouncing all else during this meditation.
Know the sensations in each breath.
Breathing in,
Know that you are breathing in.
Breathing out,
Know that you are breathing out.
All right.
Be aware of any feelings of rapture or joy.
Open to them and invite them in.
May bliss arise.
May happiness arise.
Shift your attention to them for a while.
As you can,
Intensify feelings of rapture and joy.
Perhaps breathe a little faster.
If you experience them,
Allow rushes of bliss to move through your body.
Let yourself feel very happy,
Very content,
Very tranquil.
Explore the distinct qualities of rapture,
Happiness,
Contentment,
And tranquility.
Become increasingly absorbed in these states.
Bring rapture and joy into your breath,
Deepening your absorption further,
Really steady in your mind.
Your mind is getting very quiet.
Attention is absorbed mainly in one object,
Such as the sensations of the breath at the upper lip.
Few verbal thoughts come and they pass quickly.
There's a great tranquility.
There's an awareness of breathing as a whole.
All the sensations of the breath unify as a whole.
Then an awareness of the body as a whole.
Sense the whole body shifting slightly with the breath.
You're not moving for or against anything passing through the mind.
If something seems about to deserve the peace,
Let it pass and relax into the quiet.
Your mind is coming into singleness.
There is an awareness of the body as a whole,
Of experience as a whole.
Few thoughts,
Maybe none at all.
A sense of boundaries and barriers falling away within your mind.
No resistance to anything.
Utterly letting go.
Feel a growing unification spreading and strengthening in your mind.
May singleness arise.
Allow states of mind to occur that may be unfamiliar in their fullness and profundity.
Let go of any thoughts.
Settle deeper into the breath,
Becoming one with the breath.
Absorption in the breath is increasingly effortless.
Nothing to reach for.
Nothing to be.
Allow insight to arise,
Seeing into experience and the mind and the world.
Little remnants of craving fall away.
You are peaceful and free.
All right.
Now we begin to gradually bring the meditation to an end.
Gently return from wherever you are to tranquility,
Then commitment,
Then happiness,
Then a taste of rapture,
Then a more everyday state of mind.
Take your time.
Be gentle with yourself.
May this peacefulness and steadiness of mind sink into your being,
Becoming a part of you.
May it nurture you and all those around you.
Thank you so much for joining me for this concentration meditation.
Blessings always.
