Sit in a comfortable but attentive posture,
Allowing your back to be straight but not rigid or stiff.
Feel your head balanced on your shoulders.
Allow your face and jaw to relax,
With arms and hands resting in a comfortable position.
Be attentive to what's happening within your own awareness,
Right here and right now,
Without judgment.
As you sit,
Begin to notice the sensations of breath.
Pay attention for a moment to how your abdomen moves on each in-breath and out-breath.
The movement of air through your nostrils,
The slight movement of your chest and shoulders.
Find the spot in your body where the sensation of breathing is most vivid,
Whether it be your abdomen,
Your chest,
Or your shoulders.
Or the movement of air through your nostrils.
See how fully aware you can be of your whole cycle of breathing,
Recognizing that each part of the cycle is different from the other part.
You will notice your attention shifting away from the breath from time to time.
It's perfectly normal for thoughts to wander into fantasies,
Memories,
Worries,
Or things you need to do.
When you notice your mind has wandered,
Try to meet it with a spirit of friendliness.
You don't need to do anything about it.
There is nothing to fix.
Rather than forcing it,
Just try to allow yourself to become curious about what it's like to be breathing right now.
And you'll find that the attention is naturally drawn back to the physical sensations of breath as it moves through your body.
Stay alert,
Relaxed,
And above all compassionate as you maintain awareness of where the mind goes.
Each time you notice the mind has been distracted or has wandered,
Gently shift your awareness back to sensations of breath.
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Notice the tendency to want to control your breathing.
Let the quality of attention be light and easy,
One of simply observing and noticing.
You don't need to control the duration,
Intensity,
Pace,
Or the pause between each breath.
Just be present.
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As you meditate,
Notice where the mind goes in terms of thoughts,
Liking or disliking,
Perceptions or sensations,
Hearing of sound or feelings of peace,
Sadness,
Joy,
Frustration,
Or anticipation.
Just notice these are raw thought forms,
And then return awareness to sensations of the movement of breath.
If your mind has gone off on a fantasy,
Thought,
Judgment,
Worry,
Sensation,
Or sound,
Just notice in a friendly way that this is happening and come back to the breath.
Recognize that the awareness of the distraction is important to this experience,
Both the movement away from breath and the coming back.
Notice how one thought leads to another,
And then another.
In those moments when you get lost in thought,
Or your awareness goes somewhere else,
See if it is possible to notice the moment when that flicker of awareness happens,
When you recognize that your mind has wandered.
This is a moment of mindfulness.
You can acknowledge yourself for noticing you've gone somewhere else,
And then just easily bring your attention back to breath in a friendly and non-judgmental way.
Thank you.
As this meditation comes to an end,
Recognize that you spent this time intentionally aware of your moment-to-moment experience,
Building the capacity for opening the senses to the vividness,
To the change,
To the aliveness of the present moment,
Expanding your skill to be curious about and open to whatever presents itself without judgment.
Then,
When you're ready,
Allow your eyes to open and gently bring your attention back to the space you're in.
