Welcome to your meditation.
My name is Sarah and I wanted to share a little bit with you about what I have discovered in my years of practicing meditation and teaching meditation.
So students have often told me that they have mistakenly thought that in order to properly meditate or in order to successfully meditate that they need to turn their thoughts off,
That their minds need to be clear and empty.
That might be impossible.
Maybe for a few moments it feels as if our thoughts are empty or stopped or our minds are quiet,
But we have really intelligent,
Imaginative,
And creative brains.
What the brain does is create memories and stories and images.
So without trying to turn something off that might not be able to even be turned off,
What can we do instead?
What I have discovered is we can change our relationship to our thoughts,
To our emotions,
To our memories.
We have the power to choose what we give our energy to and how we react or respond to our thoughts.
So this meditation is based on that idea that even though our thoughts are going to come and go,
We remain the same underneath.
So even if we have a thought or a memory or just some crazy imaginative story,
At the center,
At our whole,
Our baseline of being,
We have not changed.
So the thoughts are shifting and moving just like most things do,
Similar to how clouds shift and move or the weather shifts and moves in the sky.
But the sky truly remains unchanged.
Above the clouds,
Behind the weather,
The sky is still the same.
And so looking for that ability to recognize that our thoughts,
Just as the clouds and the weather,
Are going to come and go and shift and move.
And then it's our choice if we get worked up about them,
If we choose to chase after them or become fixated on them,
Or if we just watch,
Almost like laying in the grass looking up at the clouds changing,
Or as if our thoughts are a movie being projected onto the screen of our mind.
So for this meditation,
Find a comfortable seat.
You can sit in a chair or you can sit on the floor,
Or if that's not comfortable,
Feel free to lay down,
But try to stay awake.
And if you've chosen a seated place,
Support yourself in a way that you're able to sit up really tall with minimal effort,
With your arms relaxed,
Your hands on your lap,
And your feet firmly connected to the ground.
And give yourself permission to move and shift so that you're not forcing yourself to be still,
But rather creating the environment that enables stillness.
And as you settle in,
Relax through the muscles of your face,
Close your eyes,
Still your eyes into a darkness behind your eyelids so that they're not constantly seeking around for information.
Open the muscles of your cheeks,
Create a bit of space between the top and bottom row of your teeth.
Let your arms become heavy so that you feel your collarbones broaden and your shoulder blades slide down your back.
Feel where your body connects to its support,
Where your hips and your legs connect to either the chair or the floor,
And the sensations that are associated with that connection.
Become aware of any sounds that are happening around you.
And as the sounds shift and move or maybe come into your awareness and then leave your awareness,
Recognize that this transient nature of sound is very similar to thoughts.
That you get to choose if the sounds you hear irritate you and you stay connected to them,
Or if you open up your hearing in a way that they just come and go.
Feel the temperature in the air around you.
Perceive any little bit of light still coming in through your closed eyes.
And then turn your awareness to your breath.
With a sense of curiosity,
Observe your inhale and your exhale.
And as your inhale draws in,
Observe where it moves and where you feel it.
Perhaps you feel the inhale more obviously in your chest or your rib cage or your belly.
And as the exhale flows out,
Observe where you feel that breath move as well.
What is the location of the exhale as the breath flows out?
Where do you feel it in your body?
As the breath leaves and maybe you feel a sinking inward or a contraction.
And as you stay lightly focused on the inhale and the exhale in the natural rhythm of your breath,
Know that at any point if you feel lost or as if you've forgotten your place in this meditation and fallen asleep or gone off on a daydream,
You can use the breath as your tether back into this reality,
Into this moment.
And feel your body fully and grounding sensations onto your foundation so that you remember you're always here.
You remember yourself as you explore this idea of being present.
And now witness your thoughts and observe any emotions that might be present,
Any memories that might pop up,
Any images or projections.
And as you witness your thoughts and the contents of your mind in this moment,
Become aware that you have the choice,
The choice to follow the thoughts,
To give them energy and meaning or to just let them play out.
So as your mind does what it does,
Which is thinking,
Come back into the breath,
Come back into your body and stay rooted and grounded in this present moment.
As you observe your thoughts,
Remember that you are not your thoughts.
Notice if you slip off into daydreaming,
You're not your thoughts.
Notice if you slip off into daydreaming or imagination and come back,
Come back to the breath,
Come back to feeling the sensations in your body.
If your body becomes uncomfortable,
Recognize you won't be here forever in this position.
Allow any unnecessary tension to melt away so that your muscles soften.
Stay connected with the breath.
Bring your awareness into the rhythm of the inhale and the exhale.
Start to deepen your breath so that as the inhale draws in,
You feel a very clear expansion and exhale out through the mouth.
Two more times,
Breathe in a little bit more deeply and exhale out through the mouth.
And last time,
Breathe in deeply,
Fully and exhale out through the mouth.
And softly open your eyes.
Send yourself gratitude for showing up,
For being in stillness and an observation of your mind and for completing this meditation.
I thank you for joining me.
Namaste.
