Find yourself in a comfortable seated or lying down position.
Eyes closed or soft gaze downward.
Start to take in the sounds of your surrounds.
From here I can hear the waves lapping on the beach.
Birdsong in the background.
Trickles of water.
Notice your surrounds.
Checking in with your frequency.
Follow the journey of air from the tips of your nostrils to your navel.
From your navel back to your nostrils.
Consider a slight constriction of the throat as you inhale and exhale,
Keeping the breath soft and supple.
With inhales and exhales of equal duration through the nose,
Making the sound of the ocean for a few rounds.
Heightening our awareness of the breath and stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system to soothe.
Releasing the throat constriction,
Relax,
Sink back.
Tune further into the subtleties,
The idiosyncrasies of your breath.
Perhaps the slight movement outward with your arms as your ribs press into them.
The feeling of your navel pushing into your shirt as you inhale.
Noting how the more the breath is scrutinized,
Innocently investigated,
The more subtle and calm it can be.
Accepting any external noises,
Wherever you are,
Without further investigation or inquiry.
Tuning inward.
Start to soften your body further into this reflection,
Sinking your shoulders back perhaps.
As we move through a gradual body scan from head to toe,
Starting with a focus on your face.
Releasing tension in your cheeks,
Your temples.
Moving down through your jaw to your neck.
Base of the neck.
Allow your attention to travel right to your right shoulder,
Softening the shoulder.
Traveling down the upper right arm,
Loosening the tricep and bicep.
Traversing your elbow to your forearm and fingers.
Releasing any tension in your right hand and fingers,
Perhaps the fingers curl inward.
Moving back to your neck.
Focusing your attention now on your left side,
Your left shoulder.
Sinking back as you move down your left upper arm.
Left elbow,
Forearms.
Left hand and fingers.
Releasing all joints downward.
Focusing your attention back towards the base of your neck and start to work down your back vertebrae by vertebrae.
Shifting awareness from one disc to the next.
Reaching your hip girdle.
Observe as your awareness travels down your right side,
Right thigh,
Towards your right knee and then down to your right shin,
Right ankle and toes.
From your left side,
Your left hip side,
Softening,
Relaxing your left thigh.
Noticing the journey of your awareness,
Traveling travel all the way from your cheeks,
Now moving from your thigh towards your left knee and down.
Down past your ankle,
Your left foot.
Back towards your hip,
The front side.
Travel up with your awareness,
Your concentration,
Past your navel.
Through your chest,
Upper neck to the chin,
Your nose.
Back to your cheeks,
Your forehead perhaps.
Sinking back further with this relaxed body.
Start to observe your mind's activity,
Any theatrics,
It's performing.
Shifting beyond the mind to your space of full awareness,
Diffusing from your thoughts.
Those thoughts that seem to be the truth,
Rules that must be obeyed,
That require our full attention.
Diffuse from them,
Accepting your mental noise,
Observing rather than identifying with your thoughts and narratives.
There are your thoughts,
Then there is you noticing them.
Two processes going on,
A process of thinking and one of observing that thinking.
Settling into your position as a witness,
Diffused from your mind,
Diffused from your thoughts.
To deal with an unpleasant thought that might arise,
Simply observe it with detachment.
Or say to yourself,
Thank you mind,
Thank you thought.
In a moment of gratitude,
Still without any need for attachment or identification or fusion with the thought.
Realise how separate you are from all that you are witnessing,
Body and mind.
Sitting with emotions,
Thoughts,
Sensations as they arise and as they fall.
They mean no harm,
They are simply energy shuffling around.
If we diffuse from them,
Sit with them lovingly,
They can be seen for their energetic,
Innocent,
True nature.
Are you diffusing from your thoughts and mind traffic?
Maybe you become engrossed in a thought,
A feeling,
A carriage of maybes and what-ifs.
Release the train of thoughts,
Accept your mind will always be active and take a seat to observe.
Seeing your mind's activity like leaves on a stream,
Gently floating away.
Tuning back to the subtleties,
The idiosyncrasies of your breath.
As you move towards that witness position of your thoughts,
As a separate diffused entity.
As you move towards that witness position of your thoughts,
As a separate diffused entity.
Soften further into your stillness,
Relieving any final weight or tension in your shoulders,
Hips,
Extremities.
When you feel collected,
That you've spent some time in that position,
Beyond thoughts and emotions,
Beyond bodily sensations,
A separate self.
Start to flicker your eyes open,
Taking your time.
Enjoy the coziness of your head,
That warm fuzziness post meditation.
Begin to recenter in your surroundings,
Maybe noticing some new details of your environment,
Some new sounds from outside.
Combined with a restored sense of self,
Inside.
Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you.
