First Foundation of Mindfulness

This meditation goes over techniques for practicing the first foundation of mindfulness.There are other ways that the maha-satipatthana sutta suggest practicing mindfulness of the body than focusing on the breath.

Transcript

This meditation is going to be on the first foundation of mindfulness,

Which is mindfulness of the body.

We're going to go through a couple ways to practice mindfulness of the body.

So we'll begin by finding a position where you can keep your back straight,

Where you can sit still for 10 to 15 minutes without moving.

And finding the sustainable position,

Allow your eyes to close gently.

And take three deep breaths.

We inhale fully,

We fill our lungs.

As we exhale,

We let it all out.

We may feel the air at the tip of our nose,

The back of our throat,

In our lungs,

And on the way out in reverse.

The first and most common technique we use for practicing mindfulness of the body is mindfulness of the breath.

This is one of the most common practices in meditation.

It's very important.

The breath is with us always.

It's a great anchor to come back to.

So pick a point where you can feel the breath.

Again,

It may be the tip of your nose,

Maybe in your chest or your stomach.

Pick one spot to focus on.

Finding your spot.

We're going to do a counting exercise.

Inhale one,

Exhale count two.

Inhale count three,

Exhale count four.

Inhale count five,

Exhale count four.

Inhale count three,

Exhale count two.

Exhale count one.

And we move back and forth like this.

Just up to five and back.

Your mind wanders.

Bring it back.

If you don't remember where you were,

Start at one.

There's no need to beat yourself up.

A teacher of mine often says that it's this practice of coming back when our mind wanders that strengthens our concentration.

And each time we do it,

We grow a little bit more.

But when we're hard on ourselves about our mind wandering,

It doesn't count.

So turning to this counting practice,

Focus on that one spot of your breath.

Inhale brand.

Exhale count three,

Exhale count four.

Inhale count five,

Inhale count six.

Inhale count three,

Exhale count four.

Inhale count five,

Exhale count six.

Where is your mind right now?

Is it on the breath?

Is it planning?

Is it worrying about the future?

Are you thinking about something that happened before you sat down to meditate?

No matter how important it seems,

There's another time to think about that.

Right now in meditation,

Just meditate.

Moving on to another practice,

Switching gears a little bit.

We're going to look at the posture of the body.

In the Saripatana Sutta,

Which is the Sutta on the foundations of mindfulness,

It says,

A monk knows when he is going,

I am going.

He knows when he is standing,

I am standing.

He knows when he is sitting,

I am sitting.

Knows when he is lying down,

I am lying down.

This piece is often referred to as posture of the body.

So whether you're sitting,

Lying down,

Walking,

Take a moment and really feel where your body is.

You may feel points of contact.

Your feet may be touching the ground.

Your butt behind your knees,

Maybe touching a cushion or a chair.

You may notice your slouching a little bit.

Take a moment to feel how the earth fully has you supported.

You may go through a quick body scan here if you'd like.

Just taking just a moment at each body part to notice what position it is.

Not trying to do anything or change something.

But simply notice my foot's like this.

My knees are like this.

My hips are like this.

My spine is like this.

My knees are like this.

Going to move on to the next practice here,

Which is contemplating the material elements.

The elements of earth,

Water,

Fire,

And wind that we're all made of.

As we breathe in,

We feel the wind or the air come into our bodies and become a part of us.

This today tells us that quite a bit of our bodies are made of water.

We may feel the fire in our body,

The heat in our veins,

The heat in our chest.

And the earth is the matter that holds us together.

As we sit and touch these four elements,

We find that.

Our bodies are quite interdependent on the world around us.

Beginning to get to know our bodies a little bit better.

Thinking about.

The last practice I like to do in this sitting related to the first foundation of mindfulness is to simply just let whatever arises arise.

This open awareness practice we may feel a sensation in our knees,

In our back,

We may feel a heart rate increasing as we're anxious,

We may feel ourselves begin to become tired.

Simply note these sensations.

Wherever your tension is grabbed,

Let it go there as long as it's within the body.

You may say to yourself,

Knee,

Knee,

Just as your attention stays there,

Remind yourself.

If your attention moves,

Be aware of that too.

It may sound like knee,

Spine,

Itch,

Itch.

If thoughts pop up,

Note that as well.

It just may feel blocky,

Feel like Johnnus is一樣end today.

When you're ready,

Return to focusing on your breath and allow your eyes to open.

As your eyes open,

Try to retain maybe 75% of the mindfulness of your body.

It'll probably be difficult,

But this is where the practice really counts.

In our next meditation,

We'll discuss using a walking meditation with the first foundation of mindfulness.

Reviews

Super! Avslappnade och jag kännde en trygghet i min kropp som jag inte är van vid när jag mediterar ☀️

Wonderful guided meditation through breath, body and elements awareness.

I am studying satipatthana sutta and these instructions are very helpful. I really enjoy all of Matthews meditations they are very sincere and heartfelt ❤️

Very helpful techniques that I hadn't heard before.

Really nice and practical. Also helped me understand where all the practices we often listen to come from...

Loved this meditation and learned a lot about mindfulness it helped me go deeper and do more with my practice

Mindfulness good!

I really like this one

Nice sample of mindfulness techniques.

Very easy to follow and very effective. Thank you.🙏

I'm a beginner and found it very helpful

Excellent choice for a first meditation. Very calming voice, clear guidance.

Many different meditation techniques

As a meditation teacher, I'm reaquainting myself with mindfulness. I really enjoyed this! I love learning simple techniques I can use anywhere.

loved the breathing meditstion

Calming voice. Thank you.

Pleasant voice, useful techniques - feels good

Great. Truly Mindfulness Based. Based on the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta <3

Very nice techniques for a beginner

Brought me to intense focus. Thank you.