Finding a comfortable place to sit or lie down and sitting in a way that is upright but not rigid,
Relaxed but not slouchy.
Imagining that there is a string at the crown of your head gently pulling upwards allowing the chin to tuck slightly and the spine to elongate.
Thinking by noticing the current state of your mind.
Maybe you were rushing around before.
Maybe you have a long to-do list in your head or worries or concerns.
So rather than trying to shut those things out,
Simply bring awareness to the chaos going on,
The busyness of the mind.
See if you can just watch it without judging.
And if judging arises,
See if you can notice that too.
Noticing if certain stories,
Thoughts are particularly grabby today.
Noticing if maybe you're ruminating about a conversation or an argument.
And again,
Just watching how the mind wants to grab at things or push them away.
And then while allowing thoughts and sensations to continue,
You certainly don't need to fight the mind.
And in fact,
If you try to,
It's probably going to fight back a lot harder.
So considering the metaphor of the mind as a toddler.
Toddlers like to run around,
They throw fits sometimes,
And they definitely want their own way.
So if you can see your mind as this more primitive toddler-like part of you that really wants to run the show,
Then you can see it's not really worth,
It's not worth fighting with a toddler,
It's not worth arguing with a toddler.
So you're not going to get your toddler mind to stop running around by forcing.
But you might get your toddler mind to sit on your lap,
Be gently rocked by the breath.
If you make it enticing,
If you make it something that your ego mind,
Your toddler mind,
Gets kind of coaxed into.
So what I mean by that is no forcing.
When you notice an attitude of forcing or judging or trying to fit the mind into a box,
See if you can just let go.
Imagine your toddler running around.
And you can even sometimes take delight in your toddler mind running around and just sit back and watch it.
It'll get tired eventually.
Then it'll crawl up into your lap and your higher self can just gently rock.
Using the breath as a sort of hammock that's just swaying back and forth,
Allowing your mind to be busy and running around and then also introducing the breath,
Intentionally turning your higher awareness towards your breathing.
Bringing awareness to the breath at the tip of your nose.
And seeing if you can follow the sensations of breathing all the way up your nose to around the point where the eyebrows would come together,
The third eye.
And then following the breath back out.
So phenomena,
Thoughts,
Sensations,
Busyness of the mind,
It's okay if it is there.
It's not a problem.
You're letting that toddler run around.
And there is this part of you,
The witness,
That can also be focusing on the gentle swaying,
The gentle inhale and exhale.
The witness consciousness can be aware of many things at one time.
The mind can be busy while this higher consciousness is aware of that and aware of how you're sitting,
Aware of the feeling of your body and aware of your intention to notice the breath and aware of the sensations of breathing.
And then the mind will step in and take the stage for a minute or two or five or twenty.
And it feels like you're not aware of the breath,
But the witness is always aware.
So you haven't lost anything,
You haven't failed.
And the beauty of this practice is there are no mistakes.
You really can't make a mistake because there's no right or wrong.
So again and again you just begin again.
You notice the toddlers throwing a tantrum or ruminating about how their toy got stolen earlier in the day or whatever.
And you feel fixated on that for a bit.
And then you recognize,
Oh,
The breath was in the background or I wasn't even totally aware that I was breathing.
And you just drop back into the seed of the witness,
Drop back into that more expansive awareness that can hold it all.
