16 | Calm The Wandering Mind 1 (With Mini-Class)

Learn how to tame the wandering mind via a mini-class (3 minutes) before the practice & with a quick de-brief after. Practice using your preferred anchor as a tool to focus the mind, notice when attention wanders and retrieve it. This practice is particularly suited to those wanting detailed instructions, provided at regular intervals, to help master the fundamentals of concentration mindfulness meditation. Note: This practice supports Week 4 of my 8-Week mindfulness program.

Transcript

G'day,

My name is Rachel Grace.

Thanks for joining me for this practice entitled,

Working with the Wandering Mind.

This session starts with roughly a 3 minute mini class before we get into a 15 minute practice.

A wandering mind is an unhappy mind.

So goes the title of a paper on a Harvard study showing that 47% of the time our mind is wandering off thinking about something other than what we are doing.

When our mind is not where our body is,

We're more at risk of having an accident,

It's harder to build trust in relationships and our decision making is compromised.

And as the Harvard study shows,

We're also less happy.

Research shows that happiness is most strongly correlated with being fully present where we are.

So maintaining a mindful attention in each moment not only helps us avoid the many pitfalls of being distracted,

It taps into our capacity to feel a happiness from within that is not contingent on external circumstances being perfect.

So in this 15 minute practice we're going to focus on working with the wandering mind,

Training it to be present moment to moment.

To do this you will focus attention on your preferred anchor.

You'll notice when your mind wanders and then simply bring your attention back to your anchor.

This is a core mindfulness practice that includes instructions that are neurologically informed.

So let's prepare for our practice right now.

I invite you to join me in starting out with a stretch.

Breathing in,

Rolling your shoulders up towards your ears as you breathe in.

And as you breathe out,

Relax your shoulders back and down again,

Relaxing.

Taking a moment now to find a relaxed and alert posture that suits you for this practice.

Let your awareness take in the space around you now,

Gently seeing the environment you're in and noticing the sounds around you.

And if during this practice session an overwhelming emotional state or physical pain arises or you just find yourself incredibly sleepy or agitated,

Then the invitation is to support yourself,

To rebalance before deciding whether to rejoin or set aside the practice for today.

Some skillful ways to rebalance energy is to move your body and change your posture.

Or you could shift your attention either to your anchor of choice or by opening your eyes to look at the environment around you.

Or you can always take a big breath.

In particular a big in breath helps to boost energy and a big long extended out breath can help rebalance agitation or upset.

So now I invite you to join me in taking a deep breath in,

Filling your lungs and then as you let go on the out breath,

Just allow your eyes to gently close or soften your gaze down to the floor if that feels best for you.

If you'd like to you can set an intention right now for how you want to approach this valuable practice time.

And we'll start the practice with the ring of a gong.

Being aware of the sensations of breathing.

Breathing in,

Know you're breathing in.

Breathing out,

Know you're breathing out.

Bringing awareness to your body,

Noticing how your body feels in this moment.

Without judging what it feels like,

Just noticing what it feels like.

What is the state of your heart and mind right now?

Holding whatever is there with a kind attention.

Wherever you are,

Whatever the state of your body or mind,

You are welcome to share in this practice from that place.

So we begin.

I invite you to settle into this practice by bringing a relaxed and focused attention to your preferred anchor.

Whether that be paying attention to the sensations of the flow of breath or awareness of sounds arising and passing away or feeling the different kinds of physical sensations in your feet and hands right now.

Whatever your preferred primary anchor is,

I invite you to focus your attention there now.

Breathing strengthens attention,

So be curious about the qualities and changing nature of the sensations at your anchor.

If breath at the nostrils is your anchor,

You might feel warmth or coolness,

Tingling or vibration.

If breath at the chest or abdomen is your anchor,

You might feel the ever-changing rising,

Falling,

Pressure,

Stretching or release.

If sound is your anchor,

Noticing the qualities of my voice and the qualities of all the other sounds around you.

Soft,

Loud,

Near,

Far,

Pleasant,

Unpleasant.

Notice how sounds arise and then vanish,

Leaving no trace.

And if hands and feet are your anchor,

Pay close attention to all the different sensations there now.

Strong sensations,

Subtle sensations,

Changing sensations.

Directing all of your attention towards your chosen anchor right now.

Let all the experiences unrelated to concentrating fully on your anchor fall away.

Let them go wherever they might be,

Whether they be thoughts or images,

Sensations,

Distracting noises,

Smells or tastes.

Where is the mind now?

If it has drifted away from being fully present with your anchor,

Then gently return your attention to your anchor and simply begin again being aware of the sensations there.

When you realise that your mind has wandered off,

Gently gather your energy together and bring your attention back to the feelings of your anchor,

Maintaining awareness there moment by moment.

Where is the mind now?

The moment you notice that your mind has wandered away from your anchor,

This is a crucially important moment.

This is the moment you have the chance to be really different.

You don't have to judge yourself or criticise yourself.

Practice letting go and beginning again.

Exercising the letting go muscle is vital for learning to unclutter attention to be fully focused in the here and now.

No matter how many times you have to let go and begin again,

It's not a sign of a failure and it's not a problem.

This is the actual training.

Becoming aware,

Letting go as gently as you can and simply returning,

You're practising beginning again.

Being aware if you feel you're not doing this perfectly,

None of us actually practise this perfectly,

It's okay.

The moment you're aware of coming out from being lost in distraction,

This is the significant moment in mindfulness meditation.

It's the moment when we go from mindlessness to mindfulness.

Whenever you find your attention wandering,

Truly don't worry about it.

The most important moment in the practise is the next moment after you've been gone,

After you've been distracted.

That's the moment when you have the chance to just choose and let go and return.

Once the mind is stabilised through concentration practise,

Another mindfulness training practise that can be explored involves opening up the field of mindful awareness to paying attention to whatever experiences become predominant in the moment.

Open awareness practises builds the capacity for relating to all experiences with a mindful presence.

Having cultivated some concentration,

I now invite you to explore open awareness practise.

If you notice resistance to this practise,

You can simply return your attention back to the anchor and continue with the concentration practise.

But to explore open awareness now,

I invite you to let your awareness of the sensations at your anchor ebb into the background,

Making space now for your awareness to expand and widen out to include whatever experiences are arising in your field of awareness now.

Opening to any experience that calls your attention,

Whether that be to thoughts or feelings,

Images or any sensory experiences.

Like with concentration practise where you're using an anchor,

In open awareness you're still monitoring what's in the field of your awareness and you're paying attention to what you're experiencing.

But now you're doing it in a more open and less focused way.

You're not trying to stay with any one object,

Simply noticing whatever objects arise in your field of awareness.

Bringing both awareness and non-judgmental acceptance to whatever arises.

You'll notice there are many things that will come into your field of awareness.

Waves of sound and thoughts,

Sensations and feelings.

Allow your attention to be with whichever experience is most predominant and pay attention to how you are relating to that object of attention.

You can ask what is happening right now and can I be with this just as it is,

Letting it be.

As we approach the end of our practise now,

I invite you to join me in taking a deep breath in,

Filling the lungs and then relaxing your body and your mind as you breathe out.

Let the corners of the mouth rise ever so slightly into a gentle half smile,

Savouring this moment.

And to conclude I will ring the gong three times.

In your own timing,

Allow your eyes to open,

Gently bringing your attention back up into the environment around you.

Take a moment to stretch or sit back and notice how you feel.

Do you feel the same as you did before this practise or has something changed?

Most of us experience ourselves as fairly scattered and in a world full of distractions,

We need to be more intentional than ever about how we direct our attention and manage distractions.

Anytime we notice our attention has wandered,

We can use the process from this practise to consciously redirect our attention back to where we want it to be and start again.

Every time we do this,

We are changing our brain for the better,

Making it easier to concentrate in the future and we feel the immediate benefit of having our energy return to us.

We feel less scattered and more integrated.

Open awareness practises stimulate areas of the brain responsible for self awareness and self reflection so this type of practise can also be a powerful tool.

It's helpful for uncovering and transforming the habit patterns of the mind,

Especially when the open awareness practise is built on a solid foundation of concentration.

Take a moment to appreciate yourself for the dedication to your own wellbeing that you've just demonstrated.

Each time you practise,

You are changing your brain for the better and building your capacity to handle life more skilfully.

So well done.

May mindfulness positively impact you,

What you do and all of those around you.

Thank you for practising with me.

I hope you will join me again.

Reviews

Namaste 🙏

I completely became in tuned with myself, what a lovely way to begin my day.🙏🏽

Incredible practice that helped me to remain fully present.

What a great practice. Thank you 🙏🏻💙🙏🏻

Thank you. .. much appreciated guided practice as I try to get back on track with my daily practice x

A really constructive and effective exercise to support focused attention. Thank you xx