Hi there,
And welcome to this supportive mindfulness meditation practice.
This practice offers us an opportunity to rest in the present moment and build capacity for life's internal and external challenges.
When practiced,
This meditation can reduce stress and anxiety and help move us out of challenging states and into flow.
We begin this practice by creating a sense of safety and landing in the present moment.
So we begin by finding ourselves in a safe or safe enough place and in a comfortable position.
This could be sitting or lying down,
Making sure that we stay awake and attentive during our meditation practice.
So allowing your back and your spine to elongate and your head to face straight forward,
Remembering to stay fluid without becoming rigid.
Begin to allow your eyes to naturally move around the room or the environment you're in,
Noticing how things look.
We call this orienting.
Now begin to let your eyes soften and eventually close.
If you don't feel comfortable closing your eyes,
Then you're welcome to soften your eyes and look slightly down or straight ahead.
We begin our practice today and every day by setting a simple intention for our practice.
What do I want for myself out of this practice?
Remembering that this is an intention,
An aiming,
Not an expectation.
We want to let go of our expectations,
Our agendas,
And ideas about how our meditation should or shouldn't be.
And once you've created your intention,
Let it go and trust that it will manifest in whatever way it needs to.
Now,
Take a couple of breaths,
Breathing into the whole body from the head to the toes,
Pausing on the in-breath,
And then breathe out slowly,
Letting go,
Doing that a couple of times.
And now,
Beginning to notice how you are connected and supported by the chair,
Cushion,
Or the ground,
Notice your pelvis and your sit bones and the sensations of support in those areas.
If you're in a chair and your back is against the chair,
Notice the feelings of support on your back and spine.
Notice your legs and your feet being supported by the ground.
See if you can allow your body and the weight of your body to be supported.
Allow and notice that you're being unconditionally held and supported.
Now,
Start at the top of your head and scan down to your feet,
Noticing if there are any places of tension or resistance or bracing.
If you find some tension in the body,
See if you can allow it to soften,
Not forcing anything to relax,
But simply seeing if you can soften a bit in those areas,
Softening the eyes,
The head,
The jaw,
And the tongue.
Softening the throat,
The shoulders,
The chest.
Softening the upper back and the arms and hands.
Softening the belly and the pelvis.
And finally,
Softening the legs and the feet.
Really asking your body,
Is there anything that needs to move or change?
Is there anything that I need before I sit in meditation?
Now,
Take some time to bring to your face a half smile.
If that's difficult,
Let me try to think of a past experience where you felt some joy or remembering a past experience where you felt supported by a friend or a pet.
Seeing if you can embody that sense of a smile,
Noticing it throughout the whole body.
Now,
Begin to let your awareness naturally open and expand to include all experience,
Sensations,
Feelings,
Thoughts,
And sounds.
Not needing anything to be different.
Not needing to push anything away.
But also,
Not needing to hold on to anything.
Letting things move naturally,
Like clouds moving across the sky.
Taking a little time to notice the sounds around you and within you.
Far away,
Close by.
Let the sounds come to you naturally.
And now,
Adding to your experience sensations.
Notice the clothes on your skin.
The sensation of your body sitting.
Notice internal sensations like tingling,
Vibration,
Warmth or coolness.
Tension or flow.
Pleasant,
Neutral,
Or unpleasant sensations.
Now,
Adding to your experience thoughts.
Coming and going.
Rising and passing away.
Again,
Like clouds moving across the sky.
Not needing to push anything away or hold on to anything.
Letting things move and shift naturally.
Now,
Let go and allow all of these experiences to gently move to the background.
And allow your attention or the mind to shift to the breath.
Noticing the breath.
Our natural breath as it comes in and leaves the body.
Rises and falls.
Not needing the breath to be different.
Letting the breath breathe itself.
Following the breath.
Tracking the breath.
Letting the breath be an anchor or a home base.
No matter how lost or disconnected we become,
We can always come back to the breath.
Remember that the mind and the attention may wander many,
Many times.
And that's okay.
That's the nature of the mind.
It's part of the practice.
Once you notice the mind or the attention has wandered,
Do your best to let go or let be of whatever has pulled you away from the present moment.
Then,
Gently shift your attention back to the present moment.
The body or the breath.
At the same time,
Having a bit of gratitude.
Gratitude for,
One,
Being able to interrupt that old habit of mind wandering.
And,
Gratitude for being here in the present moment where life is happening.
Remembering that we can't stop thoughts from coming,
But we can choose not to follow them.
Thoughts naturally come and go.
Getting that there's nothing that should be happening.
There's nothing that shouldn't be happening.
Everything is happening by itself.
Nothing that we need to do.
Nothing that we need to undo.
Nothing that we need to fix.
Nowhere that we need to be going.
Nothing that we need to get away from.
Simply sitting.
Simply resting.
In the present moment.
Resting with our raw experience.
Noticing that there are observations.
And,
Sometimes there are judgments about the observations.
If a sensation or an emotion keeps trying to get your attention,
See if you can gently shift your attention to that experience with a wide-angle,
Open awareness.
Not trying to change it or make it different.
Seeing if you can befriend it.
If it's difficult,
You can use the breath to breathe into it.
Give it lots of space and acceptance.
And,
If it dissipates,
You can move your attention back to the body.
Back to the present moment,
Or back to the breath.
Remembering that no matter how many times the mind or the attention wanders to a thought or an experience,
You can always let go or let be.
You can always come back to the breath or the present moment.
And,
If at any time during the meditation you start to feel a bit anxious or overwhelmed,
Remember that you can always come back to the grounding.
Feeling that sense of groundedness.
Being connected to the chair or the ground or the cushion.
And,
Once you're feeling more settled,
You can come back to the breath.
Back to the present moment.
Noticing the breath as it comes into the body and leaves the body.
And now,
Letting go of the breath.
Letting go completely.
And,
For this last minute or so of our meditation,
Once again letting your awareness naturally open and expand to include all experience.
But,
This time,
Not needing to concentrate or follow anything in particular.
Letting go of any expectations,
Any agenda.
And,
Seeing if you can simply rest as awareness itself.
Again,
Not needing to do anything.
Not needing to undo anything.
Nothing to want.
Resting in the space where there's nothing missing.
Resting in the space where everything happens by itself.
Or,
Simply stepping back and resting as awareness or the observer,
The witness.
And,
Not needing anything to be different.
And now,
Coming back to the body.
Once again,
Noticing the connection to the seat or the cushion or the ground.
Seeing,
Again,
If you can allow the body,
The weight of this body,
To be connected and supported.
Noticing the sensations of support.
Allowing yourself to land.
At some point,
When you feel ready,
You can begin to let your eyes gently open,
Looking down at first.
And then,
At some point,
Once again letting your eyes naturally move around the room,
Orienting.
Noticing how things look.
As you do that,
Noticing the quality of your attention.
Notice the quality of the mind,
The quality of the present moment.
Thank you,
And I hope you enjoyed this meditation.
