Morning Meditation

This meditation is a basic mindfulness meditation and focuses on engaging mindfulness of breath, body, emotions, and mind. It also invites the setting of an intention for the day, a powerful practice for the morning.

Transcript

For this 15 minute morning meditation,

Begin by finding yourself sitting with an upright but relaxed posture.

Relax comfortably in your lap,

However they may fall,

Closing your eyes or leaving them open with a soft gaze.

Begin by bringing attention to breath,

Noticing the sensation of breathing in and breathing out wherever the sensation of breath is most known or most noticeable to you.

As the meditation proceeds,

We'll start collecting ourselves in the present moment more and more.

Begin by inviting whatever's been going on in the past,

Whatever is coming up in the future to wait outside the door,

Knowing that all of that past and future will be there when you leave and you can take it with you.

But for these 15 minutes,

Giving yourself the opportunity to rest in the refuge of the present moment.

If you find that past and future encroach in this period of time,

Don't push them away,

Let them be there,

But simply bring mindfulness,

A kind awareness and curiosity to whatever you experience.

We'll start by bringing awareness to various bodily sensations.

Begin by bringing awareness to the sensation of feet,

Noticing the experience of the feet first externally,

The pressure that may be there,

Various textures or temperatures that may be present,

And then you can actually bring your attention inside the feet.

And there can be awareness there as well.

And then bringing awareness to the sensation of sitting,

Noticing the various pressures in legs and buttocks and back that may be present.

Bringing awareness to the sensation of hands,

Noticing whatever the hands are touching,

And then bringing awareness inside the hands themselves.

And bringing awareness to the sensation of clothing.

As you scan up and down your body,

You'll notice a variety of sensations,

Different pressures,

Different temperatures,

Different textures.

And bringing awareness to the sensation of air against your skin.

We can also bring awareness to emotions,

Asking,

What's here?

What feelings are present at this time,

In this moment?

As we explore this,

It's helpful to scan inside the body,

Typically within the torso,

Checking for various tensions and pressures,

Temperatures,

Vibrations.

Each of these giving an indication as to emotions that may be present.

We might become aware as to whether fear or anxiety is present in any degree or in any of its hues or flavors.

We might inquire whether sadness is present in any degree or in any of its hues or flavors.

We might inquire as to whether anger is present or irritation in any of its degrees or any of its flavors.

And we might inquire whether happiness or contentment is here in any of its degrees or any of its flavors.

Just bringing awareness to the whole landscape of emotion that's present here,

Without pushing it away,

Without making it wrong.

Simply being aware and bringing a sense of kindness and allowing.

And now bringing awareness to the state of mind and the state of thought.

We might begin by just simply noticing the quality of thought that's present.

We find that thoughts are pressured,

Rapid,

Or perhaps less pressured or more sparse.

Our thoughts tending towards brighter,

Lighter,

Airier,

Or are they tending more towards heavy and dark?

Are the thoughts tending to be scattered or are they tending towards concentration or are they tending towards dullness and sleepiness?

Whatever we find,

Once again,

There's no right or wrong.

It's simply an unnoticing and an allowing.

We also might spend a few minutes bringing awareness to the impermanence of the thoughts,

Noticing them passing by,

Using some sort of image that allows us to see thoughts enter our awareness,

Stay for a little while,

And then go.

Perhaps imagining leaves on a stream and each thought is a leaf or clouds passing across the sky and each thought is a cloud or perhaps images on a screen or even words that come with that image and with each image is another thought which stays a while and then leaves.

And if we find that there is a torrent of thoughts,

It might be helpful to imagine that the thoughts are like a waterfall and that you can step behind the waterfall and watch the thoughts tumble forward.

We can also spend a few moments noticing the trend of thoughts,

Perhaps labeling or putting a slight note on the thoughts that are present and the trend in which they are going.

You might notice if the thoughts are tending towards future,

Towards present,

Towards past.

You might notice if there is planning or rehearsing or some degree of anxiety about something in the future.

You might notice if there's judging.

You might notice if there's fantasizing or escaping.

We might notice if there's reminiscing or regretting or if there's just a simple calmness and peace of mind.

Again,

Whatever we notice,

There is nothing wrong.

It is simply an awareness that we bring kindness to.

And now bringing your attention back to your breath.

And when you feel established in the breath,

Expanding that awareness to include both breath and body together.

You might imagine that your breath is infiltrating all the nooks and crannies,

All the stuck places in the body,

And the breath is bathing them.

So there is an awareness of both body and breath together.

If you find your thoughts wandering or you're getting lost in a train of thought or a fog of thought,

You can wake up out of that train or out of that fog,

Come back to the present moment,

Sense the freshness of being in the present moment in comparison to being lost in fog.

Savor that freshness for a moment and then bring your attention back to breath and body.

All right.

In the last minute,

I invite you now to formulate an intention for the day,

Starting by asking the question first,

What's most important?

And when you have a sense of what is most important,

Then inviting the question,

What is my intention for today that will support the manifestation of what is most important?

And now bringing your attention back to breath and body.

Venging the question.

You

Reviews

A great start to the day- thank you!

A meditation that allows us to 'rest in the refuge of the present moment'. A beautiful expression. I especially liked imagining different emotions in degrees or flavours and standing behind a waterfall when we have a torrent of emotions, imaging them in the waterfall cascading down, and away...

A beautifully-delivered practice by Stan to which I will give some thought & return to.

Great way to start the day :)

It was very helpful and calming
Thank you 🙏🪷

Comforting and peaceful. Thank you 🙏

Thank you!

🥰💯

Saving this as one of my favorites. Beautiful! Thank you 🙏🏻

This will be my new morning meditation. Stan carefully leads you through a deeper and deeper awareness of your breath, your body, your thoughts, and your emotions. I like the way he helps you imagine your intention as arising from what is most important for you this day. This will be the perfect, consistent way for me to become fully in the moment as I start each day.