Hello and welcome.
I'd like to start by acknowledging you for giving yourself time today by joining me for this practice.
This is a guided meditation on befriending the brain.
This can sometimes feel very challenging,
Especially in meditation when we think the aim is to clear our minds.
I just want to offer you a different approach today that will hopefully allow you to see that your brain is simply doing what it's designed to do,
And when we realize that we can hopefully make friends with this amazing part of our body while being better able to find what we are seeking from meditation.
When you're ready,
I welcome you to find a comfortable position for your body.
Whether that's seated in a chair or on the floor,
Perhaps it's lying down.
Give yourself a chance to stretch a little and see if your body guides you towards any particular shape.
And just know that if your body starts talking to you throughout the meditation,
You are welcome to move whenever you like.
Please also note,
If at any time this practice is not serving you,
Do what you need to in order to best care for yourself during this precious pause in your day,
Even if that means leaving the practice.
You are your own expert.
As you settle into your chosen position,
I invite you to take a moment to look at your surroundings.
The room you're in,
The doors and windows,
And just take note of the quality of the room.
The temperature,
The sounds,
The way you feel here.
I welcome you to find what feels best for you to enter the meditation,
Whether that's closing your eyes,
Softening your gaze,
Or choosing something in the room to focus on that feels supportive for your practice.
Once you've chosen a starting position for your body and your eyes,
See if you can bring your attention to your mind,
Just noticing what it's doing right now as you settle in for this meditation.
It's amazing how when we sit down to witness our mind,
We begin to realize how busy it is.
How it time-travels between past and future,
Teleports us to different places,
Anything but the here and now.
Sometimes this busyness can be overwhelming,
And it can feel like it's not worth trying to do anything about it,
Or it might be impossible to do anything about it.
There appears to be no way of forcing the mind into stillness,
Although if you find the secret to that,
Please let me know.
Instead,
We can find our own unique way to befriend our brain,
To realize it is designed to do exactly what we,
At this moment,
Might not want it to do,
Which is to think.
What meditation welcomes us to do is to make friends with it.
To witness it,
To observe where it's going,
The stories it tells,
The loops it gets stuck in,
How it analyzes the past and the future.
And all the while,
We can realize it's just doing its job.
Thinking,
Problem-solving,
And at its root,
Trying to protect us.
Often,
When we finally slow down long enough to witness our mind,
We realize it tells a lot of the same stories on repeat.
And when we understand how we feel and respond to these stories,
We can change how we are,
Both in our internal world and the world around us.
So let's see what we can witness,
And whether it might be possible to make friends with our brain during this meditation.
Let's first invite our bodies to stretch gently.
Maybe you allow your shoulders to circle slowly backwards and forwards,
Or you let your chin softly fall to your chest or turn side to side.
You might even allow your arms to lift above your head,
Gently lengthening your body.
Whatever movement you choose,
See if you can breathe into the space where you feel the stretch.
Just as we can't force the brain to find stillness,
We shouldn't force the body to find movement.
So perhaps stillness feels best to you now.
Choose what feels good to you,
And what feels bad to you.
This is your body,
And you are the expert.
Returning to stillness now,
Let's choose one small movement that we can sync up with our breath.
Whether it's moving your head side to side,
Inhale center,
Exhale left,
Inhale center,
Exhale right.
Or maybe it's flexing and pointing your feet.
Inhale flex,
Exhale point.
Inhale flex,
Exhale point.
The choice is yours.
Just keep the movement and the breath going for a few moments.
Letting that movement go now,
See if you can focus on the breath as it continues to move in and out.
Letting your inhale and exhale to be exactly what they want to be.
Whatever form they take,
Let's just allow them to be as comfortable as possible.
As you notice the air moving in and out,
Feeling it in your nose or your mouth,
The coolness of the inhale,
And the warmth of the exhale.
Let's find some words that might be helpful to repeat to yourself silently.
Perhaps,
Breathing in on the inhale,
And breathing out on the exhale.
Or it could be as simple as thinking the word in on the inhale,
And out on the exhale.
Take some time now to find what works best for you.
Every time you notice your mind wandering,
See if you can remind yourself,
This is what my brain is designed to do.
If you like,
Take note of where it goes,
And then return to your chosen words that allow you to notice and sync up with your breath.
The next time you notice you are time-traveling,
Or caught in a plan,
Memory,
Or situation in your mind,
Just remind yourself,
My brain is doing what it is designed to do.
Notice where it's traveled to,
And without judging where it's gone,
See if you can remind yourself,
That's interesting my brain went there,
I'm going to choose to notice my breath now instead.
As you continue with this cycle of wandering,
Noticing,
And returning,
Just take note of how powerful thoughts are.
How,
When we pay attention to them,
They make us feel certain ways in our body.
Perhaps you notice how urgent they sometimes feel.
How important they seem to be.
Isn't it strange to think they aren't real,
When they feel they are sometimes.
Perhaps today we can find a way to witness them,
And before feeling them,
Instead choose to come back to the inhale and the exhale.
Breathing in,
And breathing out.
Reminding ourselves,
My brain is just doing what it's designed to do.
And now if you can,
Let all of it go.
The witnessing of your thoughts,
The focus on the breath,
And if it feels good to you,
Take a deep breath in,
And sigh it out.
When you're ready,
See if you can slowly begin to feel the room.
The sounds,
The temperature,
The feeling of the air on your skin in this moment.
Wiggling your fingers and toes,
Stretching in a way that feels good to you.
And as you start to move out of the meditation,
I invite you to just reflect on what you witnessed during this practice.
How we can get lost in our thoughts,
In times and places that are not where and when we actually are.
And that the brain is just doing what it's designed to do.
To think,
To create,
To imagine,
To plan,
And to protect us.
Can we remember that the true aim of meditation is not to stop the brain doing its job,
But to simply witness what it's doing,
And to give it permission to slow down,
To relax,
And know that it is safe to be here now.
As you begin to open your eyes to the room or release whatever object has had your attention,
I welcome you to take in what's around you with new eyes.
Noticing how you feel both within and in your environment.
A gentle reminder that we don't have to be in seated meditation to meditate.
At any time,
We can slow down,
Witness where our thoughts are wandering,
And maybe instead of getting lost in those thoughts,
We can pause and respond by saying,
Thanks brain,
That's really interesting.
And then gently check in,
Am I inhaling or am I exhaling?
What's right here in this moment with me?
Thank you for joining me for this practice today,
And for trusting me as your guide.
I hope that some of this was helpful to you today and beyond.
Take good care,
And bye for now.
