Second foundation of mindfulness meditation,
Feeling tone.
Sit in a comfortable and attentive posture,
Allowing your back to be straight,
But not rigid or stiff.
Feel your head balanced on your shoulders and allow your face and jaw to relax,
With arms and hands resting in a comfortable position.
Be attentive to what's happening within your own awareness right here and right now without judgment.
As you sit,
Begin to notice the sensations of breath.
Pay attention for a moment to how your abdomen moves on each in-breath and each out-breath.
Notice the movement of air through your nose and the slight movement of your chest and shoulders.
A Cannon-boroughangelo Ne Radius Find the spot in your body where the sensation of breathing is most vivid,
Whether it be your abdomen,
Your chest or shoulders,
Or the movement of air through your nose.
Try and keep your attention on that spot.
As you breathe in,
Be aware of the in-breath.
As you breathe out,
Be aware of the out-breath.
Simply observe the breath going in and the breath going out.
As you breathe in,
Be aware of the out-breath.
You may notice your attention shifting away from time to time.
It's perfectly normal for thoughts to wander into fantasies,
Memories,
Worries,
Or things you need to do.
When you notice your mind has wandered,
Try and meet it with a spirit of friendliness.
You don't need to do anything about it.
There is nothing to fix.
Rather than forcing it,
Try and allow yourself to become curious about what it's like to be breathing right now,
And you'll find that the attention is naturally drawn back to the physical sensations of breath as it moves through your body.
As you breathe in,
Be aware of the out-breath.
As you breathe out,
Be aware of the out-breath.
As you breathe in,
Be aware of the out-breath.
Breathe.
After building a foundation of calm attention to the breath,
You may wish to expand your awareness to include the experience of the senses.
Are there sounds?
Are there sights,
Even from behind closed eyes?
Are there smells?
Are there tastes?
Are there physical sensations?
Are there emotional sensations?
Allow the sensations to arise as naturally as possible.
Stay with them gently.
Let them go as they pass.
There is no need to chase or pursue them.
Basically notice how they change.
If at any point you find yourself being carried away by a particular experience,
Or you find yourself lost in thought,
Try and take your focus back to the breath and then gently return your attention to the flow of sensation.
Let them go as they pass.
Let them go as they pass.
Let them go as they pass.
The Buddha taught that all sensations and all experiences have a feeling tone.
Feeling tones may be pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral.
How we relate and respond to these feeling tones is crucial in determining our moment-to-moment freedom or reactivity.
Quite often we have no idea of what we really feel in the body.
It is central to our practice to investigate our feeling tones in order to become mindfully aware of what we actually feel at a given moment.
What is the feeling tone of your experience right now?
Is there an experience of pleasantness?
Can you locate any pleasantness in your current experience of your senses?
What is it like when you investigate it?
What is its weight and texture?
Do you notice yourself becoming attached to it?
Try and appreciate the pleasure without getting caught up in it.
When you fall asleep think how it feels to be this way.
Is there an experience of unpleasantness?
Can you locate any unpleasantness in your current experience of your senses?
What is it like when you investigate it?
What is its weight and texture?
Do you notice yourself trying to push it away?
Try and tolerate the unpleasantness to sit with it.
What is it like when you are trying to push it away?
What is it like when you are trying to push it away?
Is there an experience of neutrality?
Can you locate any neutrality in your current experience of your senses?
What is it like when you investigate it?
What is its weight and texture?
Do you notice yourself becoming bored or confused by it?
Try and stay with it nonetheless.
What is it like when you are trying to push it away?
What is it like when you are trying to push it away?
What is it like when you are trying to push it away?
Return to the flow of physical and emotional sensations in the body.
Without hanging on to particular sensations,
Try and be fully aware of the feeling tone of each passing experience.
Feel pleasant.
Emotions unpleasant.
Taste neutral.
And so on.
What is it like when you are trying to push it away?
As this meditation comes to an end,
Recognize that you spent this time intentionally aware of your moment-to-moment experience,
Building the capacity for opening the senses to the vividness,
To the change,
To the vitality of the present moment,
Expanding your skill to be curious about and open to whatever presents itself without judgment.
Then,
Whenever you're ready,
Allow your eyes to open and gently bring your attention back to the space you're in.
