Passionist Earth and Spirit Center,
Beginning meditation class,
Week two,
Guided meditation on mindfulness of breathing in the abdomen.
Begin by recollecting the senses and bringing the awareness inside the body.
Let the awareness come inside the body.
And first pay attention to the posture.
Let the lower portion of the chair support the back.
Feel grounded and supported by the chair or the cushion.
And sit with the spine lifted.
Not a stiffed military rigor to the lift,
But rather inviting the spine to extend to its full length.
Experience the balance between a body that's grounded and rooted and firmly present and also vigilant and attentive.
Then bring the awareness down into the body.
Drop it down like a like a pebble falling through clear water.
Let the awareness descend down into the pelvic area.
And pay attention to the body sensations,
The tactile sensations.
Feel the support of the chair,
The floor,
The cushion,
And then release your weight into that.
Let the chair,
The floor,
The earth support you.
And next feel the other parts of the body.
Let the awareness roam through the head,
The facial areas,
The arms,
The legs,
Through the chest,
Around the back.
Experience your own body.
Throughout the practice,
Strive to be present,
To be conscious,
And to be embodied.
Moment by moment,
Being present,
Being conscious,
Being embodied.
This is what it feels like to be alive.
And everything in your life depends upon this,
Being alive.
But most of us hardly notice it.
Cultivate the direct experience of aliveness as it's manifested with a sense of being present,
Of being conscious,
And of being embodied.
And now bring the awareness to the abdomen.
And restrict the awareness now to focusing upon the rise and the fall of the abdomen.
This is one of the most effective ways to actually observe the flow of thoughts and to help them to subside.
The mind that's untrained often wanders off.
It gets pulled away.
It completely disengages from the meditation object.
So the untrained mind is often dull and lax,
Unfocused.
When the breath comes in,
Put forth some effort and energy into really being present,
To experience that inhalation.
And what you'll be experiencing in the abdomen is the movement of the body,
The gentle rising,
Expanding of the body as the air comes in.
To the best of your ability,
Try not to control or alter the breath deliberately.
Rather let the body breathe on its own.
And when the air comes in,
Put forth the effort and energy that's necessary to really be present,
To be conscious,
And to be in your body.
To be aware.
And as the breath goes out,
Relax.
Let the body continue to relax with each exhalation.
Let the mind relax by foregoing any mental cogitation.
To relax,
You have to make a very firm,
Deliberate,
And decisive attempt to set aside all of your worldly concerns about the past or future.
Give yourself the luxury of simply being present,
Not striving to do,
Accomplish,
Achieve,
Or get anywhere.
Let go.
Relax.
With each exhalation,
Relax the muscles in the face,
The forehead,
The eyes,
The jaw,
The cheeks.
Relax the muscles in the shoulders,
The arms,
The chest.
Relax the muscles in the hands,
The thighs.
With each exhalation,
Allow the body to deepen relaxation.
Allow the mind to relax by foregoing the mental activity that would take us into the future or the past.
With each inhalation,
Don't forget,
Be present,
Be attentive.
Put forth the effort and energy needed to show up to actually experience the inhalation.
You don't need to visualize or conceptualize anything to actually have the experience of the gut moving.
Let's focus on the bare sensations of the rise and fall with each breath.
Let each cycle of breath be a mini meditation session in itself.
As the breath naturally and effortlessly flows in,
Arouse and focus your attention with energy,
With effort.
And as the breath goes out effortlessly,
Relax the body,
Relax the mind,
And let go.
Continue with this oscillation of effort and relaxation.
Too much effort and your practice becomes strained,
But too much relaxation and the mind remains unfocused.
Try to balance the two.
Do the best you can with the body and mind that you have right now to sustain a continuity of mindfulness moment by moment.
The body sensations will continue changing.
The sounds around you will continue to change.
The thoughts will continue to change.
Stabilize yourself in awareness and mindfulness with continuity.
And then strive to be free from getting entangled with a mind that's excited and agitated.
And also free yourself from a mind that's dull and lax by the effort to be present,
To show up for the inhalation.
Don't spend the remainder of the time working on your own,
Balancing presence,
Consciousness,
Embodiment.
You you you you you you you you you you you Oh Nikki center The sound of the bell is heard.
The sound of the bell is heard.
The sound of the bell is heard.
