Hello and welcome.
I'll be guiding you through a 10-minute mindfulness meditation practice.
Let's get started by taking our seat.
So there's a couple options here.
You can sit on a chair or you can sit on a cushion or maybe a yoga block on the floor.
If you're sitting in a chair,
Place your feet flat on the floor at about hip-width distance apart.
And if there's a back to your chair,
I'd suggest sitting a little bit forward of that so that your spine is more upright.
If you're sitting on the ground,
You could sit cross-legged or you could sit back on your heels in more of a kneeling position,
Whatever feels more comfortable.
So take a moment to organize your legs in a way that feels grounded.
Once you've done that,
Place your palms on your knees or your thighs,
Somewhere that allows your elbows to fall naturally under your shoulders.
Then sit up nice and tall.
Think of the top of your head lifting towards the ceiling.
Relax the little muscles in your face,
Especially around your eyes and your jaw.
As you sit upright,
Bring your chin just slightly down and back,
Just until it feels like the back of your head is lengthening upwards and so that your gaze falls down towards the ground about a few feet ahead of you.
You can choose to keep your eyes open,
But find just a soft kind of diffused gaze so you're not looking all around the room.
You could also choose to have your eyes closed.
Now that we have our posture set up,
Place your attention on your breath.
So you'll find the place in your body where it's easy to feel yourself breathing.
That might be the rise and fall of your chest or the expansion and softening of your belly or simply the sensation of air moving through your nose.
And this is just a natural breath.
There's no need to control it at all.
As you attempt to stay with your breath,
The mind will wonder.
It's completely normal.
When you notice that happening,
Simply bring your attention back to your breath.
Placing our attention on the breath helps to anchor us in this present moment.
It might be useful to also use a label.
It's just a mental note,
One word,
Thinking.
So when you notice that you're lost in that sort of trance of your thoughts,
Label those thoughts as thinking and then come back to the next cycle of breath.
Okay?
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There might be other things to notice besides the breath,
Other sensations in the body,
Sounds around you.
You can just let those elements be as they are.
When you notice thoughts begin to form around these things.
Again,
Simply notice,
Label the thoughts as thinking,
And come back to the next cycle of breath.
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Before we transition out of practice,
Thank yourself for setting this time aside to take care of yourself in this way.
To get to know your mind a little bit better.
To cultivate mindfulness.
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If your eyes are closed,
You can slowly open them.
Just find a soft gaze so that you're gradually reintroducing sight.
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From here you can relax your posture,
Take a little stretch if you need to,
And we'll let our formal practice dissolve.
Please feel free to return to this recording any time that it would be useful for you.
Thanks so much for joining me.
