G'day,
My name is Rachel Grace.
Thanks for joining me for this practice.
I invite you to take a moment now to prepare for this practice by finding a posture that supports you to be both alert and relaxed.
Allowing your eyes to gently close or softening your gaze down to the floor if that feels right for you.
We'll start the practice with the ring of a gong.
We'll start the practice with the ring of a gong.
GONG I invite you to settle into this practice by bringing a relaxed and focused attention to your preferred anchor.
Whether that's paying attention to the sensations of the flow of the breath,
Awareness of sounds arising and passing,
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 settle your attention there now and establish a sense of concentration to support the next phase of your practice.
I invite you now to start noticing your thoughts.
Thoughts may arise as words or images or pictures in the mind.
Noticing your thoughts right now,
However they arise.
Noticing your thoughts right now,
However they arise.
Noting a thought involves generating a word in the mind to acknowledge the thought that's arising.
To start out you can simply use the note,
Thinking.
As soon as you become aware of a thought arising in your mind,
Acknowledge it in that moment,
Gently noting it as thinking.
We're not trying to figure thoughts out,
We're just practicing getting familiar with them.
We're not practicing in order to think positive thoughts or get an experience that we want.
We are simply learning to observe experiences just as they are with a balanced mind.
Noting your thinking right now.
As soon as you become aware that you're thinking,
Make a soft mental note acknowledging that experience as thinking,
Thinking.
You may begin to notice some thoughts have a recurring theme over and over.
If you notice persistent types of thought patterns in the mind,
It can be helpful to use a more precise label for that pattern.
For example,
Judging,
Planning,
Remembering,
Fantasizing.
Feel free to experiment with notes for your own thoughts that reflect their quality or their pattern.
If you don't recognize any particular quality or pattern,
The simple note of thinking is just fine.
Stay alert for the appearance of thoughts arising in the mind.
As soon as you become aware of a thought,
Make a soft mental note of it,
Whatever it might be.
Judging,
Criticizing,
Planning,
Doubting,
Remembering,
Obsessing,
Questioning,
Fantasizing,
Commenting,
Thinking.
When you become aware of a thought and note it,
Also notice what happens to the thought.
Does it continue or does it change?
Does it disappear quickly or does it fade away over time?
It's not just the noting that matters,
But the tone of the note.
Pay attention to if frustration or annoyance is coloring the tone of your noting.
See if you can let the tone for each note be infused with a quality of non-reactivity,
Acceptance and non-judging.
Being gentle and kind in your noting.
This will positively impact the quality of the mind.
Judging,
Remembering,
Fantasizing,
Thinking.
Noting thoughts is a little bit like watching clouds.
Just like how if you're lying in the park watching the clouds move across the sky,
You would see all different kinds of clouds drifting by,
Coming and going.
Some clouds might be more gray than others,
Some are big and some are small.
Just like there are different types of clouds we can watch float by,
There are many different types of thoughts with different qualities and energies and content in them.
All we're doing here in this practice is treating each thought like another cloud passing by in the sky.
You don't have to say,
Oh,
I don't like that cloud or,
Geez,
I want that cloud.
Just know each thought is just a thought and you can note it as such.
Thinking,
Planning,
Judging or doubting.
Here we are building the skills for watching these thoughts moving through the sky of the mind.
Without taking them so seriously,
Without having to get caught by them so deeply.
And we build this capacity to observe them,
We are less controlled by them.
Noting your thoughts.
As we approach the end of our practice now,
I invite you to join me in taking a deep breath in,
Filling the lungs right up.
And then relaxing your body and your mind as you breathe out,
Letting it all go.
Allow the corners of the mouth to rise ever so slightly into a gentle half smile,
Just savouring this moment.
And to conclude I will ring the gong three times.
Allow your eyes to open,
Gently bringing your attention back up into the environment around you.
Take a moment now to stretch or perhaps sit back a little and just notice how you feel.
Do you feel the same right now as you did before the practice or has something changed?
Take a moment to notice and perhaps savour the impact of this practice on the state of your body and your mind.
You can also take a moment to appreciate yourself for the dedication to your own wellbeing that you've just demonstrated.
Each time you practice you are changing your brain for the better and building your capacity to handle life more skillfully,
So well done.
May mindfulness positively impact you,
What you do and all of those around you.
Thank you for practicing with me.
I hope you'll join me again.
