Hello and welcome,
This is Sarah Stack.
Today we're going to be focusing on the idea of bare attention.
Bare attention is a mindfulness term coined to mean our simple observation of what is going on around us and detaching from the need to explain the world.
In this practice,
The goal is to simply notice the world around you,
Letting truth arise but releasing the story engine of the ego mind.
I've personally found the best way to do this is just to let the ego mind make its stories about everything that may be happening in my moment but not attaching to any of it,
Giving myself the space between the story and the noticing.
So we start with body awareness,
The beginning of focusing on our own truths,
Noticing what is and what is essential to giving ourselves the space from the ongoing stories.
So begin in a comfortable seat or any position that will allow you to focus,
Close your eyes or soften your gaze.
Notice where your body touches what you are seated on and connect in with those places.
Engage in with the gentle pressure you may feel in these places.
Shift now if you need,
Getting more comfortable as necessary.
Float your awareness to your hips,
Allowing your breath and your inward gaze to follow here.
As you breathe,
Noticing these places,
The left,
The right hip,
The lower back and then letting your awareness travel up your spine to your belly and then your chest.
Notice the rise and fall of these spaces as you breathe.
Connect now and with the sensation of rising and falling,
Notice and observe but no need to change.
Travel now up your spine and to your upper back.
Release the muscles in your shoulders by letting them come away from your ears,
Unreleasing down or into the floor if you are laying down.
Release your jaw and any holding and clenching you may have there.
Notice any other places in your face or your head that hold tension releasing back and down.
Let yourself sink into yourself.
Relax your eyes and for all your brow.
Your ears are attentive to the sounds of my voice,
Of the music and the world around you.
Notice now the air caressing your nostrils,
Moving in and moving out.
Just observe here and don't change.
Just notice.
In this act of noticing,
See if you can feel the difference between the temperature of your inhale versus your exhale.
Stay here for a few moments,
Noticing this place.
Notice now the connection of the air going in and out with the rise and fall of your chest and the movement of your body.
The simple act of breathing becomes your mantra.
In and out.
In and out.
Let the nostrils be the gateway to this experience,
Noting you're in and out,
Chest up and down.
In this place's truth there is no story required here.
Simplify anything that comes up for you in your ego mind.
Any stories about breathing or breath can be dropped and allow the simple truth of I am breathing in and I am breathing out to be your focus for a few moments.
Let my voice find you again and let your focus find the back of your eyelids or the softness of your gaze.
Let your mind relax in on itself,
Allowing everything and nothing.
Let your ego mind go,
Releasing any arguments or any hold you may have on it.
Unhook yourself from it.
Unhook yourself from this place,
Allowing it to roam and wander everywhere and yet nowhere.
Just like a wild rabbit on a prairie of wildflowers,
Let it be and unhook your attachment to anything it may do or say.
Allow the stories to come and go that it must tell you,
But let it ramble and detach and release yourself.
Gain space from this place.
Now let sensation find you,
Warm and cool,
Discomfort or ease or any other bodily sensations you may have.
Just experience them.
Simplify your experience when the stories come in.
Release the ego mind and let go,
Connecting with the simple truth of just being in this situation.
You are here and this is truth.
Any thoughts or stories that come up for you,
Release them to float or play on that mind prairie again.
I am here and this is truth.
Let yourself exist in truth.
Always finding truth once again,
Stories will come and go,
But your existence is the first truth to start with.
Stay here now in this place of I am for a moment,
Letting story drop away again and again,
Letting ego mind bounce as it may,
But it unmoves you.
If you lose focus,
Come back to your breath and your simple truth of I am.
Let my voice find you once again,
Taking a moment to integrate.
Note again the feeling of the air caressing your nostrils and the rise and fall of your belly.
Note again how your body touches the ground.
Invite simple small movements at first before getting up,
Taking care to move slowly.
Thank you again for sharing your precious moments with me.
Namaste my friends.
