Guided Meditation

30 Minute Guided Mediation by Pauletta, a long-time student and practitioner of meditation in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. Recorded live with some background noise.

Transcript

Coming together to take our seat in a comfortable posture with the back erect but not rigid.

Chin slightly tucked to elongate the back of the neck.

Taking a few deep breaths to fully arrive here in your seat.

Sitting right here right now.

Leaving behind what you were doing before.

And letting go of thoughts of the future.

Just getting a felt sense of your body in your sitting posture.

Sitting here in this room.

With others who enjoy sitting together as a sangha.

So let's spend a few moments really relaxing the body.

Taking some time to do that.

Beginning with the top of the head.

Relaxing the thinking muscle in the forehead area.

Softening the brow.

Finding some relaxation around the eyes and the sockets.

The cheeks.

And the jaw.

Relaxing around the mouth.

You can put the tip of your tongue very lightly against your two front upper teeth.

With lips slightly parted.

So that there's space between the teeth.

Relaxing the arms and the hands on the lap.

Sensing the warmth of the hands on the lap.

Finding some awareness to the belly.

Seeing if it's possible to soften the belly.

Checking in with the hips and the pelvic area.

Seeing if there's any tension or holding there.

Relaxing into your seat.

And as you move down your legs,

Notice that you can fully relax your legs.

There is nothing that is being asked of your legs to do right now.

So just bring your awareness to fully letting go of any doing of the legs,

The thighs,

The shins,

The ankles and the feet.

And feeling the contact of the soles of the feet with the earth below.

Feeling the weight of the body just sitting here in your sitting posture.

So just passing,

Making a pass through your body.

Moving to any area where there may be tension and holding and seeing if it's possible to let go.

Just checking in with that.

As you begin to experience more ease in the body,

Knowing that there's nothing to attend to except to be here,

Right here,

Right now.

Just to move into stillness together.

We can begin to bring our awareness to the breathing sensations in the body.

And as we do so,

Let's hear the instructions of the Buddha.

When he instructed the bhikkhus,

The monks,

On mindfulness of breathing practice.

Here,

Gone to the forest or to the root of the tree or to an empty hut,

He sits down,

Having folded his legs crosswise,

Set his body erect and established mindfulness in front of him.

Mindful he breathes in,

Mindful he breathes out.

Breathing in long,

He knows I breathe in long,

Breathing out long,

He knows I breathed out long,

Breathing in short,

He knows I breathed in short.

Breathing out short,

He knows I breathed out short.

He trains thus I shall breathe in experiencing the whole body He trains thus I shall breathe out experiencing the whole body He trains thus I shall breathe in calming the bodily formation He trains thus I shall breathe out calming the bodily formation He trains thus I shall breathe out calming the bodily formation So continuing to bring our awareness to the sensations of the breath in the body examining with some careful attention the sensation of breathing in and breathing out and allowing the breath to nourish and calm the body experiencing the breath moving in from the top of our heads all the way down to our toes kind of a cyclical fashion so that we can experience a felt sense of the whole body breathing the breath moving through all the cells of our body to nourish us bringing oxygen to the brain allowing the breath to relax and calm the body as we move into stillness allowing the breath to relax and calm the body as we move into stillness the breath moving through all the cells of our body to nourish us allowing the breath to relax and calm the body as we move into stillness allowing the breath to relax and calm the body as we move into stillness and as we begin to move to rest in more grounded stability and calm we can just relax back with our awareness and allow ourselves to receive whatever arises whatever arises for us from one moment to the next whatever arises for us from one moment to the next and seeing if whatever arises,

Whether it's a thought,

A memory planning or a story seeing if we can let go of it and return to the sensations of the breath if whatever may be arising is persistent maybe it's a persistent tendency to plan for what's going to be happening this coming week acknowledge this tendency planning and then see what that feels like in the body,

See where this tendency to plan manifests as a bodily sensation it might be a contraction in the belly or the chest whatever it is that is particular to you,

Just observe and take note,

This is what planning feels like so we can continue sitting in this way observing what arises in our experience and discerning with our inner wisdom whether or not we need to take some time to attend to it and any time it may feel overwhelming simply return to the sensations of the breath the breath as an anchor to return to being right here right now and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and as the Buddha said to calm the bodily formations and just see what's there right now there might be a light spaciousness and openness there might be a light spaciousness and openness or there might be a little contraction,

A little tightness no judgements,

Just see what is happening in the heart right now bringing the breath sensations to the heart center bringing the breath sensations to the heart center realizing that we are all sitting here and able to breathe easily without difficulty or a lot of effort just to feel really thankful for that ability breathing so that we can continue to be alive and live our lives with people that we care about and love those that we may not know well others that we may come to know others that we may come to know feeling gratitude to whatever it took to bring you here tonight all the things you had to do in order to make it possible for you to come and sit in stillness with others who are like-minded and appreciate the benefits of mindfulness practice grateful to anyone in your family who made it possible for you to come grateful for any relief that you may have now from the heat of the day grateful for your awareness that was able to be with the breath so that you could continue to be alive grateful for your awareness that was able to be with the breath so that any discomfort in the body could fall to the background grateful for the nourishing effects of the breath,

The calming feeling gratitude to be able to function normally in one's life grateful for the nourishing effects of the breath,

The calming feeling gratitude to be able to function normally in one's life and support for our friends and family that we care for and who care for us grateful for the refuge of knowing how to move into stillness the refuge of community here,

Feeling very grateful for that grateful for the teachings of the Buddha to help us experience moments and times of liberation and ease and gratitude for the path of practice that we have set before us to really help us to live more wholesome and skillful lives and realizing that the benefits of our practice is not just for us alone but for others that we come in contact with that they may be inspired to be kind and grateful to each other kind and generous,

Feeling gratitude in knowing that these acts of kindness and generosity that we learn about from the teachings of the Buddha and get to practice with each other and in our lives will keep moving out,

Outwards in the world to many people like the ripples in a pond that keep cascading out grateful for the wholesome influences and then now just coming back to the heart center and seeing what's there,

Just observing with awareness what is the attitude of the heart right now

Reviews

Very relaxing 🙏

Very nice guided zen meditation

Gentle and calming. Thank you.