So,
Let's start with a body scan,
And then we'll do some recitations.
We'll set a little motivation,
And then we'll do some breathing meditation,
And then a guided meditation.
So,
First is posture,
And so we keep our back straight,
Using our spine and our sit bones to be the base for this way that we sit.
Sometimes raising up the breastbone helps to keep the shoulders back and the posture in a good place.
So whether you're in a chair or on a cushion,
You can put your hands in your lap,
Right hand over the left with the thumbs touching and up against the belly.
Shoulders are straight,
Head is bowed slightly with the eyes lowered or closed,
Whichever you prefer.
You can breathe through the nose,
That's the best.
If you do that,
Then the lips are closed and the tongue is resting on the hard palate on the top of the mouth where it usually goes.
So now we'll just do a quick body scan.
We'll start with the feet and the legs.
So just notice if there's any tension or tightness.
If there is,
Just breathe through that area.
Let the muscles just relax.
Just feel like you've arrived now and there's nothing else to do but to get comfortable and stay in your seated place for some time.
Pay attention now to the low back.
Breathe through that area.
Just let those muscles all relax.
Same with the mid-back.
Let's bring our attention around to the front,
To the belly.
Often there's a lot of tension in the belly,
So just let everything just relax.
Nothing to hold on to.
When we breathe in,
The belly goes out a bit.
When we breathe out,
The belly goes in a bit.
If we breathe that way,
Then we're using the full capacity of our lungs and helping to balance the body.
Now let's pay attention to the shoulders.
Lots of tension there often.
So you can gently raise the shoulders to your ears and then just let them drop.
Do that a couple times.
That allows the tension to release.
Put your awareness to the back of the neck.
We lower the head a little bit.
We can feel those muscles stretch just a little bit.
Then we bring our awareness to the skull,
All the little muscles on the head.
Everything just relax.
The forehead making it very wide and open,
Let the eyes and the sockets just relax.
No tension.
Let the jaw muscles release,
Relax.
So now that we've prepared the body,
We'll prepare the mind by focusing on our breathing.
You can put your attention at the belly as the breath moves in and out,
Or you can put your attention right at the upper lip where the air moves in and out the nostrils.
Either place is fine.
Stick one and just keep there.
So we use mindfulness to pay attention to keeping our mind on the breath so that we don't forget our object of meditation.
Then we use introspective awareness,
Which is kind of the spy in the mind that alerts us when our mind has gotten off the breath and we're thinking or listening to a noise or doing something else.
So then just bring it right back to the breath again and again.
So let's do that just for a few minutes just to settle in.
We'll be back in about four minutes.
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