Hi,
I'm Alice Langholt,
And welcome to Sensation and Thought,
A Meditation Practice.
Today we'll practice a simple yet powerful meditation technique,
Focusing on labeling sensations and mental events.
This practice cultivates present moment awareness without engaging with the content of our experiences.
By merely noting sensation or thought or emotion,
We observe the mind's activity from a place of detachment.
Doing this reduces mental chatter and allows for greater inner peace and clarity.
It also helps us recognize the temporary nature of our feelings and thoughts,
Freeing us from their potential grip.
It's important,
And I think one of the most essential purposes of meditation,
That we are reminded that we are not our thoughts or our feelings.
So by recognizing them without following them where they're trying to take us,
But simply saying,
Oh,
A thought,
We can continue to be aware of them without engagement.
Doing this helps calm and basically stop the monkey mind from distracting us during meditation and allows us to maintain the role of observer.
So let's give this a try.
Let's begin by finding a comfortable posture.
You may sit or lie down,
Whatever is comfortable for you,
And try to relax your body,
Checking in for any places that feel tense and just relaxing them on purpose or with intention.
Close your eyes gently or just soften your gaze,
Not noticing anything specific around you.
And let's take a few deep,
Relaxing breaths together.
In through your nose and out through your mouth.
Inhale and exhale.
One more,
Breathe in.
Let your body settle,
Continue breathing on your own,
And let's begin.
Now simply observe.
If you notice a physical feeling,
A tingling or an ache or warmth or cold in any part of your body,
Silently say or think to yourself,
Sensation.
There's no need to analyze,
Judge,
Or explore it.
Just the word sensation and then let it go.
Now pay attention to your mind.
If a thought arises,
Any thought at all,
Or if you feel an emotion,
Maybe happiness,
Sadness,
Anger or any other feeling,
Just gently label it thought or emotion.
You don't need to follow it or delve into it to understand it better.
Just label it and then let it pass.
And continue this practice,
Simply noticing anything that comes to you and just label it and let it go.
There's really no right or wrong way and don't get mad at yourself if you have a lot of them.
Just this practice of label and release will help them become further and further between.
And instead and in place and in between them,
You will find periods of open quietness.
It's a really cool practice.
Now I'm going to give you a few minutes of some soothing meditation music.
And I'd like you to practice this labeling while you are just being here,
Letting the music play.
And then I'll be back.
We're coming to the end of our short meditation.
Gently bring your awareness back to the present.
Take a moment to reflect on the simple practice of labeling sensations,
Thoughts and emotions.
How was that for you?
And you know,
As you go about your day,
You can employ this same technique anytime you feel overwhelmed or distracted or lost in thought.
All you do is pause,
Notice and label.
Remember that your thoughts and feelings are not who you are.
They are passing events.
And bringing this awareness into your life cultivates calm and greater peace of mind.
When you're ready,
Open your eyes.
Thank you for practicing this meditation.
I hope you find the technique helpful.
I would invite you to give it a few tries.
If the first time felt awkward to you,
That's okay.
Each time you practice it,
It gets easier and the mind becomes more accustomed to doing this and then you'll find it really works.
I'd also like to invite you to try my course,
The Right Tool for Your Specific Stressors.
This course is a useful guide to simple tools that you can use to quickly alleviate various kinds of stressors that you might experience.
It's been a pleasure to share this meditation technique with you today and I hope your day flows with ease.
Thank you.
