Simple Vipassana For Mindful Awareness

In this guided practice, Rachel teaches you how to focus your mind on the breath using vipassana. You will learn the basics of vipassana and cultivate mindful awareness, the gateway to peace and your intuition.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Rachel.

I am going to take you through a simple meditation practice today called Vipashana.

And the word Vipashana translates into the word Insight.

When we sit and watch our breath,

Which is the foundation of Vipashana meditation,

We often get Insight.

Insight that comes unexpectedly,

Very often like a whisper,

Or maybe louder.

But it is from being able to witness the thinking mind that the Insight comes.

So I am so happy you have carved out some time to self care and take this short meditation with me.

It will be about ten minutes.

So first I invite you to find a seat that is comfortable.

That can be on a chair if there is any back pain or leg pain when you sit on the floor.

But if you sit on the floor,

I recommend definitely sitting up on something,

Maybe a couple of pillows or a big pillow that is thick or a yoga block.

Something that can elevate your pelvis slightly so that you can actually root onto the sit bones.

So you want to be on the two sit bones,

Not on the base of the sacral bone.

So you want to be right on those called Ischial tuberosities,

Butt bones,

Plugged down.

And you want to make sure you are not rocking back nor are you rocking forward.

So take a moment to just find your seat.

And once you have found your seat,

I would like to invite you to let the eyes gently close if that is available to you.

Or you can keep the eyes open but let them remain at half mass so that you are looking downward.

And once you have lengthened your spine a little longer and the eyes are closed,

Just take a moment to honor your seat that you have chosen.

Meaning that you are going to commit for the next few minutes of this meditation to stay with it.

Commit to the seat you have chosen.

Not fidget,

Not move out of it unless absolutely necessary.

And then just a tiny bit,

Letting the chin ever so gently go down.

Very little.

And now that you have arrived,

Give yourself a chance to just feel your body.

This is part of letting yourself arrive.

It's part of transitioning into witnessing.

So just take a moment.

Notice how does the body feel in this moment.

Does the body feel light today?

Or heavy?

Grounded?

Or unsettled?

Maybe somewhere in between?

And then notice what judgment,

If any,

Came up when you checked in.

And then remind yourself firmly but gently to release any judgment.

There is no need for judgment.

It's just about noticing.

Noticing the quality of your mind.

Noticing the quality of your body.

Noticing the quality of your emotions today.

Let's go a little bit deeper into there.

Are the emotions upbeat or a little heavy?

No judgment.

And then once you have noticed the body,

I'd like you to begin to notice something else.

Your breath.

Come to notice the subtle movement of your breath.

Notice what parts of the body are moving when you breathe in and out.

Just notice the rise and the fall of the inhale and the exhale.

Are the breaths long?

Or are they short?

Take a moment to notice that,

But don't judge it.

Now as you breathe,

I'd like to invite you to start to lengthen the breath slightly.

Trying to breathe only in and out of your nose,

If that's available to you.

If for any reason you need to use your mouth,

That's fine.

As you breathe in and out of the nose,

Notice perhaps how the temperature of the air is cooler on the nostrils on the inhale and warmer on the nostrils on the exhale.

Now that you have lengthened the breath,

I'd like you to anchor your mind on the breath.

Very often the analogy in meditation is that the sky is your mind.

And then clouds will come and scatter across the blue sky.

And the clouds are often the metaphor for thoughts.

And just like in your own mind,

Thoughts are not bad.

Just like in the sky,

Clouds are not bad.

But I want you to just notice the clouds,

I.

E.

The thoughts in your mind.

And when you've noticed them,

I'd like you to bring yourself back to the blue sky,

Which is your breath.

And a very simple phrase that I was taught in my Vipassana training is once you realize you've left blue sky in your inner thought,

Which lives only in the past or the future,

You say this expression silently,

Thinking back to the breath.

And then you bring yourself back with gentle yet firm discipline and awareness.

Then a moment might pass and you are in a thought again.

It's okay,

Notice that your mind has left and bring yourself back to blue sky by saying thinking back to the breath.

Take a moment with this.

Sit in your innocence and your awareness.

And watch your breath.

As the sound of my voice enters your meditation,

Are you in blue sky or are you in the clouds?

There is no judgment at all,

Just notice.

And if you were in the clouds,

Can you bring yourself back?

Retraining the mind like a beautiful courageous warrior to be present.

Staying with this for maybe a moment longer,

Watch the inhale go in the nose or the mouth if need be,

And exhale through the nose.

Dropping any ideas that you have to be better or different,

Dropping any ideas that your self worth comes from what you achieve or do,

Dropping that and coming back to just your presence,

Your essence.

When a thought comes into the blue sky,

Thinking back to the breath.

Now slowly begin to allow for your meditation to dissolve.

Coming right back to your physical body,

Feeling the sits bones on the earth,

Noticing maybe the sounds around you,

The smells.

When you're ready,

In your own time,

Gently let the eyes open.

I hope this serves you.

It's available to you whenever you need.

Come back to this guided meditation as often as you want.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

And may you feel at ease.

Reviews

❤️ Lovely. Deep emotion flowed through me with this meditation. I'm feeling very grateful 🙏.

This was a great meditation. The voice was extremely soothing. Very easy to follow. Thank you so much. 🌻✨

Excellent way to start this work day. Thanks for posting

Wonderful instructions. Thank you!

Thank you! I will definitely come back to this frequently :-)

Lovely meditation, very easy to follow and helpful. Love the voice😍. Thank you 🙏

Excellent short meditation, thank you!

Excellent. Calm, easy to listen to voice. Gentle redirection to the breath. No judgment ❤

Thank you Rachel! Beautiful guidance through the framework of vipassana. Will listen again and again :)

One of the best meditations Ive ever done! Thank you! It flew by so fast & I didn’t want it to end! Usually thats not the case

lovely guided introduction to vipassana, great gentle voice very clear recording thank you! 🙏

Beautifully simple, thank you for the sweet mantra. Back to the breath.

Love this meditation I’ve been looking for a simple Vipassana one for awhile.

what a great sensation in my body after this meditation!

A really nice beginner vipassana. thank you.

Thank you ✨ I feel at ease after work 🌙