MBSR Sitting Meditation (20 min)

The Sitting Meditation is a core practice of the free 8-week MBSR course found at Palouse Mindfulness.

Transcript

This segment guides you through a sitting meditation with breath as a primary object of awareness.

Arranging to spend this time in a comfortable but attentive posture,

Preferably sitting up without leaning back for support if that's possible for you,

And at a time and in a place where you won't be disturbed.

Sitting in a dignified posture,

Head balanced on shoulders,

Arms and hands resting in a comfortable position.

This is a time for allowing ourselves to switch from our normal mode of doing and moving and reacting to one of simply being.

Just being attentive to what is happening within your own awareness right here and right now.

And as you sit,

Just noticing sensations of breath.

Just noticing how your abdomen moves on each in-breath and out-breath.

The movement of air through your nostrils.

A slight movement of chest and shoulders.

Just bringing awareness to whichever part of the breath cycle and wherever in your body it is most vivid,

Whether it be your tummy or your chest or your shoulders or the movement of air through your nostrils.

Noticing the entire cycle of breath.

From the movement of the air coming in and filling the lungs and extending the abdomen slightly.

The movement of air going out.

And being aware of the pause,

The stopping point in between the in-breath and the out-breath and the out-breath and the next in-breath.

It's all one movement.

Even through the changing of direction.

Just noticing where that pause is.

Seeing to what degree you can be aware of the whole entire cycle.

You'll notice your attention from time to time shifting away from breath.

The mind may wander into fantasies or memories,

Thoughts of the day,

Worries that you might have,

Things you need to do.

And without giving yourself a hard time,

When you notice that that's happened,

Just gently but firmly bring your awareness back to the sensations of breathing.

The actual physical sensations of breath as it moves through your body.

The physical sensations of breath as it moves through your body.

Being aware of where the mind goes.

Gently shifting your awareness to sensations of breath.

And noticing the tendency to want to control your breathing.

Letting the quality of attention be light and easy.

One of simply observing and noticing.

Just as if you were on a float on a gently undulating sea.

You go up with one wave and down with the next.

You don't control the duration of the waves or the depth between the waves.

You're just riding.

Gently shifting your awareness to sensations of breath.

Gently shifting your awareness to sensations of breath.

Gently shifting your awareness to sensations of breath.

You may notice that there are sounds in addition to the sounds that come from this recording.

Sounds of traffic or movement or something else going on.

Just noticing that your attention has moved to that perception of sound.

And staying with it just long enough to notice the quality of the sound.

Sound is vibration,

Tone,

Volume or intensity.

Being aware of the tendency of the mind to label sound as traffic or as voices or as music.

And coming closer to the actual experience of the sound as it hits your eardrums.

The experience of pitch or rhythm or intensity.

Separating out the actual reception of sound from the labels we put on it.

And if you've been paying attention to sound or notice that you've gone off to be noticing the perceptions of sound,

Bringing your attention once again back to breath.

Letting your breath be your anchor of awareness.

So that each time your awareness goes somewhere else,

Just gently coming back to breath without judgment or any upset if you can do that.

So that each time your awareness goes somewhere else,

Just gently coming back to breath without judgment or any upset if you can do that.

Noticing the tendency to have an opinion about things.

About liking the way things are going right now.

Not liking it,

Finding it uncomfortable.

That too can be an object of awareness.

Just noticing that you have an opinion about things often.

So that's my liking mind.

Liking this.

Or is my critical mind saying I would rather have things be different than they are?

And that too can be noticed.

Building the capacity to know disliking or disliking.

And not to have to do anything about it.

How freeing that is.

And as you notice that happening is bringing your awareness to the physical sensations of breath wherever is most vivid for you.

That too can be an object of awareness.

So that each time your awareness goes somewhere else,

Just gently coming back to breath without judgment or any upset if you can do that.

Noticing the tendency to have an opinion about things.

About liking the way things are going right now.

Not liking it,

Finding it uncomfortable.

That too can be an object of awareness.

So that each time your awareness goes somewhere else,

Just gently coming back to breath without judgment or any upset if you can do that.

That too can be an object of awareness.

That too can be an object of awareness.

I'm saying if it's possible to have a friendly attitude towards whatever comes into your awareness.

If your mind has gone off on a fantasy or a thought or a judgment or a worry or a sensation or a sound.

Just in a friendly way noticing that this is happening and coming back to breath.

Recognizing the entire cycle of awareness is important to this experience including the movement from breath and including the coming back.

So that each time your awareness goes somewhere else,

Just gently coming back to breath without judgment or any upset if you can do that.

That too can be an object of awareness.

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Noticing how that flicker of attention happens,

That moment when you realize it is somewhere else and somewhere other than breath.

And at that moment,

Think if it's possible to have an attitude of celebration,

Of congratulation,

Of recognition that this is a moment of awareness.

You acknowledge yourself for noticing you've gone somewhere else and just easily bring your attention back to breath in a friendly and a non-judgmental way.

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As this meditation comes to an end,

Recognizing that you've spent this time intentionally aware of your moment to moment experience,

Nourishing and strengthening your ability to be with whatever comes your way.

Building the capacity for opening the senses to the vividness,

To the aliveness of the present moment.

Expanding your skill to be curious and available about whatever presents itself without judgment.

And when you're ready,

Allowing the eyes to let some light in if you've had them closed.

Permitting yourself now to shift or to stretch in whatever way feels comfortable as this sitting meditation ends.

Reviews

Wonderful guided meditation. Loved the stillness and space allowed in between gentle guided reminders.

Love the pauses. Gives time to practice being mindful.

Love the stillness of this meditation. No music, just quiet and breathing. Thankyou, I will look into your other tracks.

Nice basic opening to sitting in mindful awareness. Thank you.

Appreciate the encouragement to celebrate the return to breath when the mind wanders off during meditation. Thank you for all you are doing to support others Dave!

Minutes of silence to practice without directions.

Without “going away”, there could be no “coming back”. Thank you.

Thank you for this meditation and for the encouraging words 🙏

Takes discipline, but worth the challenge and experience.

Very good. One of the fee guided meditations I've done so far. Some if them feel kind of
saccharine, and it doesn't jive with me. I get irritated and can't follow. This was very good. It helped direct and challenge me toward practicing mindfulness.

Back to basics. Thank you so much for this peaceful moment of awareness!

Uncluttered focused meditation, clear, calm, quiet voice. Just right.

I enjoyed this meditation and found the silent spaces soothing. Thank you. ❤️

Lovely, kind voice and gentle guidance. Thank you 🙏

Wonderful long silences to sit with gentle suggestions. Breathing focus and some attention to sound. One that I will come back to again and again.

Practicing mindful meditation. Nice to have a teacher now and then.

Perfect. And love the idea of a free full mbsr course

the simplicity of this meditation is really helpful. the way it's worded also resonated with me very well, and i think it's one i can easily come back to!

I find Dave’s guidance really effective ….the voice, the pacing, the insightful suggestions …..very very centring …his own personality doesn’t intrude ….there’s no distracting music…can sense also how his own experience operates invisibly as a factor to aid the process, despite me being in such a polarised overly mental space

Very relaxing. Feel ready to begin my day being more present & mindful 🧘🧘🧘