Hi everyone,
My name is Niti Narula and I'm going to guide you through a brief five-minute meditation.
So find a comfortable seat with your hips higher than your knees and sit tall,
Sit well.
Focus your gaze at one point in front of you and humble your chin slightly towards your chest.
As your gaze steadies on one point,
Feel your eyelids get heavier until they are ready to fall shut like a heavy New York City ballet curtain.
With the eyes closed,
Notice the other senses kind of perk up.
You notice the way sounds swirl in your presence.
And without gripping them,
Allow them to be.
And take a breath in deep into your seat.
Exhale out the chest,
Let the shoulders drip on to the back.
Take another breath in deep into your seat.
Exhale out the chest,
Place the shoulders onto the back.
Last one,
Breath in deep into your seat.
Exhale out the chest,
Drape the shoulders on the back.
Just notice in the moments of silence where the mind trickles off to.
As each thought enters,
Notice it,
See it,
See it with your mind's eye,
Honor it.
But rather than gripping the thought,
Can you instead hold it in the palm of your hand with an open fist,
The natural frill of the fingers as if the thought could drift away with ease,
Without effort.
And continue to see each thought roll in like the tide in the ocean,
Trickling in over your toes.
Then feel that thought recede out,
Almost sinking the feet,
Your feet into the ground deeper,
Into the sand deeper as the tide recedes.
And feel your breath mirror that pattern of tide,
Almost as if the thoughts are connected to the pace of your breath.
Feel the pauses at the bottom of each breath cycle get a little bit longer,
Little bits of space between the cycles of thoughts,
The noise of the mind,
Almost as if there are moments where the noise of the mind pauses.
And instead of getting frustrated when the volume turns back up,
Acknowledge it as your natural human consciousness,
Part of what makes you beautifully flawed in this moment,
In this life,
In this world.
Land your mind's eye on your breath,
The simple sensations of the inhalation lifting your chest up,
And the exhalation settling your shoulders down.
And prepare,
Prepare to come back.
Prepare for the eyes to open before you do.
And when you're ready,
Gently crack the lids open like you're waking up from a long nap on a Sunday afternoon,
On a sunny,
Sunny day.
Gaze steady at one point in front of you and let the visual of your room softly enter the eyes,
The brain.
Take a moment to acknowledge the pause,
The awareness.
Gather your hands at your heart.
Breathe easy.
I hope you can take some small part of this calm with you into your day.
Thank you for sitting with me.
It has been a pleasure to guide you.
