Beginner Meditation Series Week 1 (5 min of Silence)

1 of 6 in a series to give tools for silent meditation practice up to 30 minutes/day. Begins guided into 5 min of silence and ends with the bowl ringing. For more insight on this week's meditation practice and when you might choose to use it while meditating without guidance, go to my website.

Transcript

Welcome to the Beginner Meditation Series.

This is the first of six meditations which will build upon each other to help bring you to a daily habit of 30 minutes of meditation.

Sitting,

Reclined,

Or lying down in a good posture,

Begin by checking in with your breath.

Do not try to change your breath just yet.

Simply become aware of its quality.

Is it fast or slow,

Deep or shallow?

Once you have made a note of the quality of your breath,

Begin to intentionally draw the air in through the nostrils all the way down to the pit of the belly,

Allowing the lower lungs to fill before topping off your upper lungs.

And when your lungs can hold no more air,

Exhale slowly,

Allowing the air to pass through your mouth cavity where you should find the lips closed and the jaw and tongue relaxed before the air exits your nostrils.

The relaxation in the jaw and the tongue flows down the digestive tract to the pelvic floor and then emanates from there,

Radiating outward from your torso into the limbs,

All the way out to the fingers,

All the way down to the toes,

All the way up to the tip of the scalp.

Like ripples in a pool,

The waves of relaxation pass over you with each breath.

Continuing with your relaxed breathing in this way,

You can begin to count your breath either by counting both inhalation and exhalation as one or by counting the inhalation as one and the exhalation as two and so on.

Either way,

Count only up to ten.

When you reach ten,

Begin again at one.

If at any time you realize you counted past ten or you forget how you got to the number you're on,

Begin again.

Now continue to count your breath.

You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you

Reviews

I am in fight flight hptsd) have trouble letting go. This was really helpful & I was able to relax .When I caught myself , because the counting really helped I was able to relax somewhat again. I will be using this daily . I was able also to hear you clearly. Thank you.

You have a wonderful, soothing voice. I will return to this. As a first timer, I’d have liked a brief cue regarding what to expect once the silence begins (e.g. “we will continue in silence, counting breaths, relaxing the body, for x minutes. The sound of bells and my voice will close our meditation.” Or something like that.)

An excellent, basic, clear and easy to follow meditation.

Lovely, thank you 💖🙏🏽💖

Hi Rachel,
I am grateful to you for sharing this wonderful talk. Can you add few more strategies than counting to not let mind keep overthinking? I have tried mantras and body scan but nothing seems to still and silence my mind. I know it is huge favor to ask, but I shall be indebted if you could publish a course on silence meditation.
Regards,
Arpit.

Thank you so much Rachael! This was lovely. I’ve been looking for a meditation on here that gives me an opportunity to sit more in silence. I’ve been surprise at hard that is (excluding the timer option, of course.) This was a great bit of minimal guidance I was looking for. Thank you.

Well done but for me my mind wanders too much. Thank you for this🙏🏽🙌🏽

Love this! I’ve been meditating for 2+ years & have found I now prefer periods of Silence vs overly guided meditations. I’m so glad I came across this. Will practice & repeat more & more. Namaste 🙏🏽

My first real attempt at silent meditation. 😊 I LOVED it. ❤️

1st time ever trying meditation. Thank you. This was very special for me. It was relaxing and immensely nourishing (?). I know that sounds weird, but I got emotional afterwards and cried. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before. Thank you 🙏🏼

Thank You 🙏😊✨💖💚🕊

Perfect for a beginner, simple, practical, and peaceful!

Thank you. My first silent meditation. I'm really please at how well that went. 🙏 (btw I loved the ringing of the bell at the end. Melodious) 🙏

I am practicing toward sitting in meditations for five minutes and longer, and this meditation helps a lot. Eventually I will be trying Ms. Ploof's longer meditations. I turned my volume to very quiet near the end so I wouldn't have the jarring gong, and I am grateful to others who mentioned it in their reviews.

Very nice! beginning instructions, then silence.

Thank you. Just what I needed.

I don't do silence well but for my first time meditating to silence I did great. Thank you Rachel for your guidance and gentleness.

Thank you Rachel.🕉☸

Lovely thank you.