This is a meditation to help you to unplug from the very device that you're using to listen to this meditation.
Listen to this meditation at the end of your day or at any time when you want to take a break from your device.
Listen with eyes open and your device in hand.
Take a slow deep breath in through your nose,
Completely filling your lungs,
And then gently and fully exhale.
While continuing to look at your device,
Take a second deep breath in more slowly than the first,
And then gently and fully exhale.
While continuing to look at your device,
Let your gaze soften and unfocused so that the device appears blurred while you take another deep breath in through your nose,
Pausing and exhaling.
You may feel the pull of your device to you,
An urge or a craving to launch an app,
To tap on an icon.
If you feel any kind of feeling like that,
Instead of acting on it or being aversive to it,
Let yourself fully feel that feeling without acting and continuing to breathe deeply in and out,
In and out,
Breathing in the tension of that craving,
And breathing out to relax.
If your mind is racing with thoughts triggered by the device,
Pay attention to those thoughts without holding onto them.
If you feel your mind grasping onto those thoughts,
On your next exhale,
Let go of the grip.
Know that the urge to check your messages or be on social media is a feeling or a thought,
And observe that feeling or thought while letting go of your grip on it,
Not trying to change the feeling,
Not acting on it,
Simply observing it and letting it go as you continue to breathe and be aware on your in-breath that you are breathing in and on your out-breath that you are breathing out.
And now set a clear intention for the break that you will take from this device,
Whether it be for the next hour,
For an afternoon,
Or for the rest of the evening until after you've woken up tomorrow morning.
Focus your attention on that clear,
Decisive intention to let go of the device,
Not only mentally,
But also physically.
In your mind,
Choose a place where you will rest the device,
Separate and away from you,
While you unplug from it.
And now physically take the device to that location,
Pausing this recording if need be.
And when you arrive there,
Slowly and with full intention,
Place the device down in the location that you chose.
Take one more deep breath.
In and out.
Run away and enjoy your time unplugged.
