Welcome to a guided meditation for beginners.
Even if you're not a beginner,
Anytime you sit with yourself,
You can always bring just a new mind,
A beginner's mind,
And be open to what happens in each moment.
That really is the essence of sitting and mindfulness and even meditation.
So I'd like to talk a little bit about an element of mindfulness and meditation that's so important and that's something called the pause.
A pause,
You know,
Which is that little space in between things.
If you are a musician or play music,
There's a special notation for a pause and it kind of looks like a little emptiness,
A little hole in the page.
And that's what we're really looking for here is the spaces in between,
Spaces in between movement,
Spaces in between thinking.
And I'm sure you even know for yourself when you stop and just take something in,
That's where something happens.
You know,
In that not doing,
Some kind of action happens within.
And that's really what the essence is of what happens when you're mindful.
Or really to be more specific,
It's what happens right before you realize you're being mindful.
And what is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is just paying attention on purpose to what is happening inside of you and outside of you right in the present moment with generosity and kindness.
And that's a state that every one of us can come to at any time.
No matter what is happening,
It can come to you in regular life.
It doesn't have to be a mystery or form of practice.
When we can kind of keep that in mind,
We can train ourselves.
And why do we want to do that?
Why do we want to meditate or be mindful?
Well there's really one reason for that.
And that is to have a better life right now,
Right here,
Right in front of us,
Just as it is.
To really get better at living.
We meditate not to get better at meditation,
We meditate to get better at life.
So as we learn how to pause,
How to stop with ourselves,
Just consider that the mind and the body oftentimes are not in one place.
It's typical that whatever we're doing physically is usually not matching up the being,
The awareness,
The mind.
And that's not to say as a judgment,
It's it's an observation.
That when we can align our being and our doing,
When we can be present fully to whatever we're doing,
That really is the key to happiness.
Because in that very moment you are completely absorbed,
You're completely aware of where you are and what you're doing.
And in the end that's all we really have are these moments of awareness and of being.
So I would invite you just do a little bit of a sit together.
And the way to start is to take a comfortable position.
You're sitting in a chair,
Bring both your feet to the ground,
Your hands can be in your lap or on the chair arms.
You might want to sit a little bit forward of the back of the chair in a way that your spine is straight and present.
Typically we like to sit while we're meditating.
If it feels better for you to stand or if you feel like you need to lay down that's fine.
Do what feels good for you.
Just try to stay awake during this time.
And so we begin simply with one deep breath.
Just take a deep breath in and slowly release out.
And as you do that maybe start to feel the body get a little heavier.
Take another deep breath in like that.
Maybe hold at the top a little bit and then slowly exhale.
And take another deep breath just like that and as you take an in-breath maybe you feel the lightness of the oxygen coming into the body.
And then as you release maybe you feel gravity gently pulling you,
Grounding you down into the earth.
Just return to normal breathing,
Just whatever the body wants to do.
And here if your eyes aren't closed you can close them if that feels okay.
If you'd rather them open you can have a soft gaze down,
Just a broad soft gaze.
Now just feel how you feel inside the body.
How is your heart?
How is your mind?
However they are,
Notice how you're speaking to yourself about that.
Are you judging?
Are you noticing?
Here I would ask you to just notice.
Is your heart racing a little?
Is it slowing down?
Is it neutral?
Does the mind want to bounce all over or is it feeling,
Is it thinking a certain thing?
Just notice.
And here we are in a pause in the stopping,
Breathing with ourselves.
And now with your breath just see if you can feel the air coming in through the nose.
Tune into the path of the breath down the throat into the belly and the lungs.
And then as you exhale the reverse flow of that as the air is pressed out of the lungs and out through the throat and through the nose.
And just spend some time right now feeling the flow of your breath in and out of your body.
And as your mind wanders it will.
Notice that.
And gently bring back your mind back to your breath.
Maybe noticing different elements of the breath,
The coolness or the warmness of the breath in and out of the nose.
Becoming curious about this breath.
And again take notice right now where your mind is.
Just notice.
And as many times as needed you bring your mind back to your breath with gentleness or kindness towards yourself.
Relaxing down into the breath.
Maybe even enjoying the breath.
Softening the face.
Softening throat.
Melting your whole being so that the breath can flow in and out.
Where is your mind?
And as you notice that,
Gently deepen your breath and continue with deep breaths deeper deeper.
To end our practice,
You can slowly blink open your eyes.
And take a look around.
Just notice where you are in this particular moment,
In this particular place with yourself.
And silently thank yourself for taking the pause.
And notice how you're feeling.
If maybe you've slowed down,
Perhaps you've touched into peace.
And know that you can come back to this place anytime with a pause and a breath.
May you have peace within and with others.
Namaste.
