Balancing The Mind

Balancing the mind meditation is a practice designed to grow the capacity for the qualities of mindfulness and awareness, in order to calm the nervous system and cultivate a clearer and more centred mind.

Transcript

I'm going to guide us through a meditation practice which aims to centre the mind through focusing on the breath.

So when you're ready I invite you to take a comfortable and balanced posture,

Feeling alert and upright and at the same time relaxed in your seat.

And you're welcome to gently close your eyes or if you prefer you can lower your gaze towards the tip of your nose.

So firstly we're going to consciously use the breath to calm our nervous system.

So I invite you to join me in taking three long full breaths through both nostrils if that's possible and exhaling through the mouth with a sigh.

If that is not accessible for you today you could use your mouth to sip in the air like using a straw and then releasing the breath through the teeth making a hissing sound.

So for the rest of us when you're ready we'll breathe in through the nostrils and exhale through the mouth with a sigh.

So breathing in and breathing out.

Then breathing in and breathing out.

And one more time through the nostrils and letting it out through the mouth.

So if it feels okay for you now allow the breath to return to its natural rhythm.

So we're just aware of our living breathing body in this moment and we're settling into the natural rhythm of breathing.

And can you become aware of the place where the sensation of the breath is most noticeable in your body?

For me that's the nostrils but if your mind is busy with thoughts you may prefer to focus your attention away from the head and notice the sensations of breathing in your belly.

So this will be the focal point of our attention for the duration of the meditation.

So I invite you to give your mind and body permission to be open to resting on your breath in the present moment.

And you may notice contents come into your mind that distract you from your focus on your breath.

And the task is to notice these distractions while gently releasing them to return to the breath.

And in this way we're repeatedly using the skill of mindfulness to refocus from distraction.

So we're making space for our minds to become more calm.

And if you're feeling any dullness or drowsiness we can use our skill of awareness to uplift the mind and refresh it into clarity.

And one thing I do if my mind is feeling particularly drowsy or dull is to intentionally take a slightly deeper breath which increases the oxygen and energy and alertness of our mind and body.

So practicing in this way with mindfulness and awareness we're allowing our attention to become more even and stable.

We're creating or letting emerge a more balanced mind.

So let's practice these skills together now for a moment of silence.

So we're going to slowly return from the meditation now.

And we just want to ensure that our nervous systems remain calm so we can maintain the benefits of this practice.

So I just invite you to very gently let go of the focus on your breath and to slowly expand once again to include the sensation of your physical body.

Just noticing your body in contact with the seat,

The temperature in the air and any sounds and smells that are around you.

And before we finish our practice you might like to make an intention to bring the qualities of mindfulness and awareness with a centered mind into the moments of your daily life.

And so finally when you're ready you can slowly open your eyes.