This is a sitting with awareness practice.
So just take a minute to settle yourself and get comfortable in A seated position where you feel supported.
Either in a chair or on a cushion.
And if you're seated in a cushion,
Maybe just having a little bit of support under the hips.
Making sure that you have some support for the back.
Rising up from the hips.
The back is straight but soft.
Chest is open,
Shoulders back.
And just sensing into wherever you feel your breath right now.
Maybe it's the nose.
Maybe it's in the chest,
Maybe deeper in the abdomen.
We'll just stay here.
For a little while,
Watching the breath.
Feeling it flowing through the body.
Bye.
As we watch the breath,
We can.
Imagine.
Ourselves on a boat or raft on the ocean.
And seeing our breath as the waves.
Beneath us.
And so just as we watch the waves and we float with them rising and falling.
Without trying to force it to slow down or speed up or slow down.
Or fit into any certain rhythm.
You just watch the breath unfold.
Bringing a curiosity to the moment.
We feel it inside the body.
Perhaps the moment.
We feel all the air leave the body.
Maybe even spending a few moments noticing a pause.
After the last breath is exhaled,
Before we take the next one.
That moment of stillness.
And if you'd like.
Moving now from focus on the breath to Focus on the sound,
What you hear around you.
What sounds are passing over the ears?
Coming into awareness.
Often in meditation.
We strive to keep out the external sounds,
Sights.
For this practice.
Or simply maintaining an awareness of what is happening around us.
So noting any noises.
Vibrations,
Hums.
Chatter.
Any sounds coming into our awareness.
Noticing intensity,
Volume.
Tone,
Pitch of the sounds around you.
The noise is fading,
Constant.
Growing louder or softer.
Or perhaps.
And he sounds internally.
Rumbling of the stomach,
Breath.
Now bringing your awareness to the sense of touch.
Physical sensations.
Perhaps the feeling of your clothes on your skin.
The air.
Perhaps the feeling of your hair on your neck.
Your body touching your seat,
Your cushion.
It's normal for the mind to have gone off onto other stories or thoughts.
With some gentleness,
Just guiding your attention back to any physical sensations you're noticing.
And you may choose now to turn your awareness to any thoughts that are going through the mind at this time.
So just as we imagined ourselves on the boat,
Watching our breath.
You can use that same.
Image.
This time just watching the thoughts rising and falling from our awareness.
Trying as best we can not to get hooked onto a thought or storyline.
Things that have already happened.
Or even thoughts about this practice right now.
You can choose.
To engage or not to engage with those thoughts.
Simply acknowledging I'm having this thought right now.
Noticing arising,
Passing by.
Let's see if you can notice that without doing anything.
These thoughts.
Can move on.
We don't have to dictate where our attention goes.
You may notice too.
Certain feelings arising.
Emotions attached to those thoughts or other physical sensations,
Sounds.
And seeing if you can follow those emotions with some curiosity.
And without getting hooked to them,
Drawn into them.
Cool.
And if at any time.
It just feels like too much to stay with this awareness of emotion.
It's perfectly fine to step back.
Connect with the breath or the body.
When you feel ready.
Coming back to.
Touch on those feelings when you're ready.
And just as with our thoughts.
You may notice.
Different emotions.
Coming up one after the other or at the same time.
Perhaps there are emotions that are difficult to name.
We can just acknowledge that.
Perhaps being curious about the intensity.
The shifting of our feelings.
Seeing if you can sense into whether or not the emotions are changing,
Shifting,
Growing,
Fading.
How are they moving around?
Now for the next a minute or two.
You can let go of this focus on emotion.
Maybe allow the mind to go where it would like.
Following it with your awareness.
Observing.
Where the mind goes,
What it lands on.
What thoughts arise?
So following now.
From a bit of a distance.
Seeing.
Where the mind goes.
Almost as if on this boat again,
Just watching the waves of awareness as they rise and fall.
And as we end this formal practice,
We don't have to think about it as coming out of our mindfulness.
Rather simply transitioning our awareness now.
To the sounds around us.
To the sensations in our fingers.
And our toes.
Starting to make some small movements.
If we've had our eyes closed.
Fluttering them open to allow the light around us in.
Taking in our surroundings.
Bringing all our senses.
Into the here and now around us.
And thanking yourself for taking this time to practice,
To be with yourself,
And to do this for yourself.
