Day 24: Connecting To The Present Moment

Welcome to Day 24 of the Mindful Mornings Challenge. Taking inspiration from the Dalai Lama, Sharon Salzberg shares how she greets the day with a deep sense of gratitude and asks the question "how can I best serve sentient beings today?" Sharon further reflects on the power of love and compassion and how we can use these as forces to guide our actions. Sharon will then take us through a gentle meditation that seeks to connect us to the present moment.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Sharon Salzberg and I'd like to welcome you to the Insight Timer Mindful Morning Challenge.

I feel like I'm probably kind of like counter programming for this because I am so not a morning person.

I think all of my friends are probably laughing right now if they're tuning in because I'm quite well known for not being a morning person.

Nonetheless,

I do wake up each day and I practice and I'd like to offer you just the range of the practice that I do in the morning and actually how I do grief a day.

I do feel a lot of gratitude for being alive,

Quite a lot of gratitude for being alive and I try to note that and acknowledge that even lying in bed,

Just staying in bed,

I will first do that reflection and then I think about the Dalai Lama who I have read,

Wakes up every morning and poses the question to himself,

How can I best serve sentient beings today?

In other words,

What kind of kindness or loving kindness or compassion can I extend into the world today and may I do my best in doing that?

So I try to have some personal form of that kind of reflection still lying in bed and just think about having that sense of creativity for my day and not just like getting through or getting by but actually using different experiences as a way of expressing the things I care about the most,

Forces like love and compassion.

And then I will meditate.

So this is the meditation I'd like us to be able to do together.

You can sit or you can be lying down in doing it and to begin with,

You can have your eyes open or closed,

However you feel most at ease and start just by listening to sound.

In this case,

It may be the sound of my voice,

It may be other sounds.

It's a way of relaxing deep inside,

Allowing our experience to come and go.

And unless you are responsible for addressing the sound,

Responding to it in some way,

Just let it wash through you.

And bring your attention to the feeling of your body sitting or lying.

Feel the earth supporting you.

Feel space touching you.

Mostly we think about touching space and we think about picking up our finger and poking it in the air.

But space is already touching us.

It's always touching us.

And we can feel it.

Bring your attention to your hands and see if you can make the shift from the more conceptual level like fingers to the world of direct sensation,

Picking up pulsing,

Throbbing,

Pressure,

Whatever it may be.

You don't have to name these things but feel them.

This is also the world of constant change.

Bring your attention to your feet and do the same thing.

And bring your attention to the feeling of your breath,

Just the normal,

Natural breath,

Wherever you feel it most distinctly.

The nostrils,

The chest or the abdomen.

You can find that place,

Bring your attention there and just rest.

See if you can feel this very breath,

Just this one,

Without concern for what's already gone by,

Without leaning forward for even the very next breath,

Just this.

And if for some reason the breath doesn't work for you as this kind of home base,

Go back to being aware of the sensations,

The living sensations in your hands,

In your feet.

These images or sounds,

Emotions,

Thoughts,

Other sensations may arise but if they're not very strong,

If you can stay connected to what we call the primary object,

Your chosen object,

Say the feeling of the breath,

Let these other things just flow on by.

They can come and they can go,

But you're resting.

You're not trying to destroy thoughts and feelings.

You're not fighting them but also not following after them.

Just this one breath.

If you find yourself carried away,

Lost in a fantasy,

A whole series of discursive thoughts,

Or you fall asleep,

Don't worry about it,

As soon as you emerge from the fog,

That's the critical moment to practice letting go and just come back.

Come back to truly connecting to something happening in the moment.

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You and for the last little bit of the practice session see what comes to mind in terms of what you would like to dedicate your day to.

What value,

What quality,

And just as you are fully with the breath of the sensations in your body be as fully present as you can be as you formulate this thought.

And when you feel ready you can open your eyes or lift your gaze.

We'll end the meditation session.

Thank you and may you have a very good day.

Reviews

Beautiful and Inspirational way to start the day …
Thank You Sharon …
Namaste
Dan

Relatable, sensible, and gentle meditation to start my day. From one “not a morning person” to another, thank you! No theatrics here, just calm and gentle encouragement.

Simple. No music is most welcomed. And a teacher that knows the difference between lying and laying. Thank you.

Excellent, as a are all of Susan's meditation lessons. 🧘‍♂️

Loved this meditation. one of the goals I have this year is to meditate on my own, just following my breath without guidance, but there’s so many beautiful meditations on insight timer. I particularly love this meditation because it allowed me to go inside and then being reminded to focus on another part of my body or my breath. A wonderful transition as I learn learned to meditate without guidance. Thank you so much.💕

Not a morning person, but everybody wakes up! True!

Dry grounding. I appreciated the slow pace. Thanks

That practice was so beautiful. I focused on my breath and I feel it was so new this time, such a fresh way to be present and enjoy my body. Thanks so much for the journal promp too! 🙏🙏🙏

Changes in the world. …how I choose to meet those changes. …with patience. Thank you for helping that idea resonate with me through this practice session.

This meditation had good timing on silent pauses that allowed me to reflect. I liked that there was no background music. It allowed my mind to do the work it needed to during the meditation. Thank you.

I usually choose meditations with sound, but this is another one that has surprised me. I love that she doesn’t take the processes too seriously, often encouraging the meditator not to worry about it. At the very beginning, the moment she said to focus on the sounds around us, my air conditioner kicked on. I couldn’t stop grinning. She probably would’ve said don’t worry about it. 😄

Oh my gosh I loved this !!!! Will go to her website and take some of her courses. Love her voice her way of guiding you 🥰

Sharon brings such a beautiful humour to the practice & I always feel more connected to the parts of myself I so often habitually judge after sitting with her!

I loved it. Simple and authentic. The sound, cutting from recording to silence was sometimes distracting. But the meditation was fantastic

Thank you Sharon!! Very "no nonsense", grounding, and intentional short morning practice.

I like your ‘real’ voice. Some people sound like they’re forcing a gentle, calming voice. I like listening to you because you sound natural. I left every so often but I came back and didn’t feel guilty for getting off course.

One of the best morning meditations I’ve ever done.

I feel so grounded. favorite morning meditation i’ve tried so far!

One of my favorite guided meditations 💛I love Sharon’s style of teaching

sharon is a masterful meditation teacher. her simplicity makes mindfulness accessible to all.