Hope you are doing well today.
I am so grateful for you being here.
I am Nainika and I will be your guide for this meditation.
Let's start by taking a moment to get comfortable.
You can either be sitting or lying down.
Take a few moments to get settled into a position where you can feel at ease for the next few minutes.
And now gently allow your eyes to close and try to be relaxed.
Now take a nice deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Continue to take some deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Today we are going to practice mental noting.
Mental noting is a mindfulness meditation technique that aims to label experiences as they arise.
We are going to use the metaphor of thoughts as buses.
So now imagine that you are sitting at a bus stop.
Buses are coming and going,
Coming and going.
And now taking buses as a metaphor for our thoughts.
Each time a thought arises,
Imagine the label of that thought superimposed on that bus.
Watch the bus come and sometime later see it leave.
You are just a silent observer until another bus arises.
It does not involve analysis or judgment.
Rather,
We are simply giving our current experience a one word label.
Seeing our thoughts enter as buses at the bus stop and then leave.
Let's begin.
Sit comfortably and observe your thoughts.
Label your thoughts and see them as a bus as and when they arise.
Observe it and then let it go.
I'll give you a few moments to practice observing your thoughts as they ride on the buses coming and going.
Keep observing your thoughts and it's okay if your mind wanders.
Part of what we are practicing is observing when the mind wanders.
So whenever it does,
Just gently bring your attention back to your breath and start noticing your new thoughts again as new buses.
So if you're ready and in your own time,
Now slowly open your eyes.
You may now notice where you are bringing your awareness to the space around you in the room.
Congratulations in finishing your meditation.
This practice helps us to be fully present.
Sometimes it's like an anchor to the present moment.
The mind is less likely to wander off if one keeps a steady stream of relaxed mental noting.
Another function of noting is to help us recognize patterns in our experiences.
A third function is to disentangle us from being preoccupied or overly identified with our experience.
It helps us to see more clearly maintaining a non-reactive and non-judgmental form of attention to our experiences.
Calmly notice what is happening.
We are less likely to get caught up in emotional reactions.
Well done today.
Have a great day ahead.
