The following practice has been brought to you by the School of Kamma,
Empowering students through mindfulness meditation.
Before you begin,
Find a safe and comfortable space where you won't be disturbed.
For safety,
Do not listen to this recording whilst driving or operating machinery.
Hi,
I'm Matt and I'll be your guide for this following period of meditation.
Take a moment to make yourself comfortable.
You may want to sit upright with the back straight,
Or if you're new to the practice,
Lie down,
And when you're ready,
Bring the eyes to a gentle close.
As we begin to settle into the meditation practice,
Take a couple of seconds to notice the quality of the breath without trying to influence or restrain it,
Just to use it as a means of checking in with how you feel,
Focusing on the areas surrounding the nostrils.
You may notice that the breath is cool as you breathe in,
And slightly warmer as you breathe out.
In your own time,
I invite you to gently move your attention to the soles of the feet.
As we begin to relax the body,
Part by part,
Feeling any sensations in the soles of the feet,
I invite you to make any slight adjustments to make sure you can be as comfortable as possible,
And relax as deeply as you can,
As we glide the awareness around the toes and over the tops of the feet,
Wrapping around the ankles and coming into the calves and shins,
And just acknowledging anything we might be experiencing,
Any subtle tingling or discomfort,
As we move the inner gaze into the thighs and the backs of the thighs,
Arriving at the glutes,
And just feeling the weight of the body here,
At the base of the spine,
Stable and grounded,
Moving into the lower back,
The middle back,
And the upper back.
We can zoom out and view this area as a whole,
And we may notice some aching or discomfort,
Especially in the region of the lower back,
And if we like,
We can give the back a little stretch,
By gently pushing the chest out before releasing on the exhale,
And relieving some of that residual tension from the body,
Moving into the abdomen,
And feeling into the cavity of the torso,
As we sweep our attention up past the organs,
And into the area of the heart and chest,
Another area where we can sometimes feel a little tightness,
And we can just be kind to ourselves,
And allow it to be as it is,
Always changing,
As we feel up into the shoulders,
Again maybe a little tension here,
Perfectly fine,
As we drip the awareness down the arms,
Over the elbows,
Into the forearms,
Wrists,
And hands,
We may notice some heat and perspiration in the palms,
Tingling in the fingers,
A sign that our mind is sharpening,
And we can use this as we come into the neck and throat,
Feeling into the chin and jaw,
Cheeks,
Nose,
Eyes,
And forehead,
Arriving at the top of the head,
And turning inward now,
To notice the quality of our mind,
Allowing any thoughts to rise and fall,
Without attaching to anything,
We can just be here,
For a moment,
To experience how we feel,
As we enter into new and exciting seasons of our lives,
We embark on a fascinating journey of self-discovery,
We'll learn new things,
Meet new people,
And open new and exciting doors of opportunity,
We'll also be outside of our comfort zone,
Exposed to new pressures,
Both socially and academically,
For some of us,
This can be an incredibly energizing experience,
We may have been waiting for this independence,
This opportunity to bloom and grow,
But for others,
This can be extremely daunting,
We can have questions such as,
What if I don't make any friends,
What if I'm not smart enough,
What if I don't like the course,
And what if people don't like me,
And this kind of experience can be compounded by things like social media,
Which set us up for this very specific university experience,
The truth is,
Almost everybody experiences these doubts to some degree,
When we look deeply,
We know that these concerns over being enough,
Fitting in,
And making connections,
Are founded on a false idea that these things are supposed to happen all at once,
Which is never really the case,
What is important,
However,
Is that whichever stage in our journey we are at,
We embrace our own uniqueness,
And the uniqueness of others,
As it is this that brings an immeasurable richness to the world and our experience within it,
The reality is,
We all experience nerves and doubts,
And that's natural,
It's perfectly fine,
But we don't have to give in to peer pressure,
To do things that we don't like,
Or pretend to have interests that we don't have,
Just to fit in,
For if we truly want to connect,
We should celebrate who we are,
And this will allow us to meet other people that truly share in our values,
And our interests,
Always remember that university is a journey,
One that unfolds gradually,
Know that you are perfect as you are,
Take your time,
Take your time,
And embrace it all,
As your authentic and most empowered self,
Coming close to the end of the meditation period now,
Take a moment,
Once again,
To check in with how you feel,
And there's never any need to quantify or label our experience,
Just be here,
And know,
Remember that you can work with this as many times as you need to,
And whenever you like,
You will now hear the bell ring,
Three times,
And on the third ringing of the bell,
Gently open the eyes,
And return,
Energized,
And confident,
And confident,
To the room.
