Hey.
In this session,
We'll practice connecting with an anchor and gently inclining your attention back to the anchor anytime it drifts.
This practice strengthens many qualities,
Concentration,
Ease,
Patience,
Letting go,
And the fundamental capacity to choose where you place your attention.
So go ahead and find a comfortable posture where you feel at ease and alert.
Let your eyes close gently or just lower your gaze,
Letting the visual field be soft and unfocused.
If you like,
You can take a deep breath or two to shift gears inside and settle.
Feel your body resting on the ground.
Take some time to notice the places where it touches the earth.
Feel any sensations there of pressure,
Contact,
Heaviness or hardness.
Just resting your attention with those sensations of contact.
Allow any feeling of steadiness or solidity to soothe your mind and body.
See if you can give the weight of your body to the ground.
And as you do that,
Notice if there's any letting go or softening that can come in the muscles and tissues.
Sitting quietly,
Feeling the sensations of your body resting on the ground.
A primary way to reclaim our attention is to work with an anchor,
A simple,
Tangible experience that can serve as a home base to rest your attention.
This could be the sensations of your body sitting,
Touching the ground,
Or your hands in your lap.
It could be the changing,
Rhythmic sensations of breathing in and breathing out.
Or it could even be noticing the sounds around you as they come and go.
One anchor isn't better than another.
You want to choose an anchor that's easy to notice and that feels either pleasant or neutral.
So if your breath feels labored,
Tight or stressful,
It's probably not the best anchor for today.
Instead,
Rest your attention with your body or notice sounds coming and going.
Whatever anchor you choose,
The body,
Sitting,
Breathing,
Or hearing,
It's already happening.
It's not something you have to create,
Nor is it something you have to go and find or get.
The anchor's already here.
We're just listening,
Lightly inclining the attention to rest with it.
Take some time to just begin to experience the anchor,
Connecting your attention with it one moment at a time.
You don't need to make your thoughts stop,
Change how you're feeling,
Or even try to get concentrated.
Instead,
See what it's like to get interested in the anchor,
Feeling it,
Staying connected to it.
If you're working with the breath as you breathe in,
Feel the sensations of breathing in.
As you breathe out,
Just notice and feel the sensations of breathing out.
If you're working with sounds,
Noticing sounds come and go,
Being aware of the experience of hearing one moment at a time.
Or if you're working with your body,
Just feeling the sensations,
The body sitting,
Or your hands in your lap,
Noticing how they change,
Resting your attention lightly there.
The wandering mind is completely natural.
Whenever you notice that your attention has drifted,
See if you can appreciate that you're aware again.
Then,
Gently let go,
Begin again.
When we wake up from a daydream,
You're already aware.
Instead of going out to the anchor,
See what it's like to let the anchor come to you,
To just let it emerge from within your awareness.
Breathing's already happening,
Sounds already here,
Body's present.
So it's a very gentle practice.
Bringing a quality of patience and persistence that's friendly.
Can you take an interest in being here,
Letting things come together naturally around the anchor.
As you pay attention to your anchor in the foreground,
Let whatever else is happening simply be in the background.
Thoughts or sounds,
Sensations,
Just let them come and go in the margins of your awareness.
Every time the attention wanders,
Gently let go,
Begin again.
As you do that,
Notice any tendency to judge yourself or to yank your attention back to the anchor.
If the idea of letting the anchor come to you doesn't speak to you,
Sometimes we talk about gently returning the attention to the anchor as if you were moving a balloon with a feather resting on top of it.
It's that gentle,
That careful.
Sometimes this process can feel a little like driving a car with poor alignment.
As soon as you take your hand off the wheel,
It starts to pull in a certain direction.
So over time,
You can begin to notice what's pulling your attention.
Are there any patterns?
Does your attention gravitate to thoughts of the past or the future,
To a particular emotion,
Relationship,
Or topic?
What can you learn about how your mind has been conditioned by just observing where the attention goes when it wanders?
Try to just notice this conditioning without judging it,
Needing to fix or change it.
Because of these tendencies,
It takes a certain amount of energy to stay connected to the anchor.
We're countering the pull of our habits by applying a subtle amount of effort,
Attending to the anchor with a gentle but firm intention,
Offering your attention to the anchor one moment at a time.
Can you bring a quality of wholeheartedness to the process?
Just spending time with the anchor,
Receiving it one moment at a time.
You can practice like this whenever you like,
For as long or as short as feels appropriate.
So whenever you're ready,
In your own time,
Bring a little bit of movement into your body and slowly let your eyes open.
Thanks for your practice.
