I sit,
I wait,
I am.
I come closer to my own silence.
Sit in a comfortable position and arrive in your body where you are right now.
If you're on a chair,
Your feet are flat on the floor.
If you're on a cushion,
Your legs are crossed loosely in front of you.
Feel the weight of your body resting on the chair or the cushion.
Let gravity hold you in its embrace.
Quickly resolve and drop and drop deeper.
Not noticing your head,
Your shoulders,
Your back.
Softly letting go.
Establishing a posture can contribute to awareness and help us to be in the present moment.
The spine is long,
Stacked vertically.
Crown of the head reaches towards the sky.
Arms rest gently down on the thighs.
Eyes can be closed or just slightly open.
Lips gently parted.
Facial muscles relaxed.
Breathing in and out through the nose.
Feel the sensation of your breath in the body.
Take a few breaths,
Feeling the inhalation and the exhalation in your body.
Don't hold or push the breath.
Just settle into a normal breathing pattern without forcing it.
Notice thoughts,
Sounds,
Images floating by.
Notice the darkness behind your eyelids.
And notice how breath is deeper than thought.
Feel the breath in the body.
Feel the sense of you.
What is the sense of self appearing in consciousness?
Is there a part of your body that you feel that's tense?
Go back to it.
For me,
My belly,
I need to relax again and again.
For some people,
It's the chest or the shoulders.
Try to sit in the soft feeling of I am.
I am my breath.
I am sensations.
See if you can notice the beginning right to the end of the breath and the beginning of the next breath.
If you are lost in thought,
Catch it.
Notice it.
Try to release it.
You may notice thoughts coming,
But you will also notice them dissipating on their own.
We are not our thoughts.
Remember that there is no right or wrong.
You can follow the breath.
You can lose it.
You can get lost in thought,
But then you can come back to the breath and begin again,
Softly,
Mentally noting the breath,
Simply receiving the breath.
Relax into this silence,
Which is yours.
Hear the silence within and rest with it,
Trying to let go,
Letting go slowly,
And being in this raw awareness of the present moment.
You might feel heat,
Cold,
Tingling,
Pain in some part of the body.
Honor it,
But try to stay in your posture.
Notice it.
Let it be there,
But continue to come back to the breath as your guide.
Feel the breath longer and gentler as you continue the meditation.
Remember to stop looking,
To being correct.
Change your posture so that your spine is long.
Just try to turn awareness,
Attention upon itself as you see what silence feels like in the body.
The goal of this is not to be a perfect meditator,
But just to notice the breath in the body.
Mindfulness is about being aware of what is arising.
Sometimes what is arising is emotions,
Fears,
Worries,
Anger.
Just notice that.
Let it go.
You can put it on a high shelf to come back to at a later time.
Give yourself this time,
This 10 minutes,
To begin again.
I'll mind the time,
And you'll hear a soft bell at the end of the meditation.
Remember,
If you're lost in thought,
That you can come back to the breath again and again.
This is your practice,
On your terms.
This is your space,
Your silence,
For these moments.
