This is a guided meditation using a photograph.
The purpose of using an object is to focus on sensations.
This practice allows us to cultivate the Vipassana mindfulness meditation practice of looking at something with clarity and precision,
Seeing each component as distinct so that we can discern the most fundamental reality of what is happening.
This practice may lead to insights and deeper understandings.
As breathing helps focus our brain and our body,
We will start to settle in and observe our breath before we start looking at our photograph.
So let's start.
Feel yourself for meditation.
If you are walking,
Stop and start to ground your feet into the ground,
Wiggling your toes.
If you are in a seated position,
Start to straighten your back and relax your shoulders.
If you are lying down,
Start to feel the points in your body that you connect with,
The bed or the couch.
Draw some awareness into the areas that you are connected.
Your feet on the ground,
Your seat in the chair,
Your back on the bed or the couch.
Send some breath there.
Start to notice your breath as it exists in your body.
Find the point of your breath.
What you are looking for is the physical place or feeling when the air passes in and out of your nostrils.
This can be inside the tip of your nose,
Perhaps inside your nose or outside of it.
Take a quick deep breath and notice the sensation inside your nose or on the upper lip.
Exhale and notice the breath in the same place.
Take a few quick deep breaths to notice these sensations.
It is from this point that you will follow the whole passage of breath.
When you notice that you have become distracted,
Worrying or thinking about something else,
Take a breath in and start to become aware of the sensations of the breath on the point under the nose.
Okay so now we are going to look at a photograph.
Look at your photograph and take it all in.
What does it remind you of?
Do you catch yourself smiling?
Become aware of the thoughts,
Feelings and observations in your body and mind right now.
Stop this recording to note these observations.
Now look at the photograph closely.
What kind of shapes do you see?
Rectangles,
Triangles,
Squares,
Circles.
You can count them but you don't have to.
Look a little closer.
Stop this recording to note your observations about the shapes in the photograph.
Okay now look at the photograph and name the colors in the photograph.
Grays,
Deep blues,
Purples,
Torque wise.
Observe all of the colors that you can.
If your colors have a name,
Think of those names and write them down.
Stop this recording to note these observations about the colors,
Naming them if you can.
This time I want you to observe inside the photograph.
Imagine you are inside the scene.
What would you hear?
Birds?
Children playing?
The tap,
Tap,
Tap of an ambitious woodpecker.
Stop this recording to observe yourself inside the photograph and note these observations.
This is our final observation.
Look at the photograph and notice the feelings that come up for you at this time.
Affectionate,
Engaged,
Confident,
Safe,
Amazed,
Relaxed,
Distressed,
Lethargic,
Detached,
Alert.
Can you name them?
Stop this recording to note and name as many feelings as you can.
To end our meditation,
We will take three full breaths attending to the point of breath at the tip of our nose,
Following the breath as long as we can in the body,
Returning to the point of our breath at the tip of the nose.
As you connect with your final relaxing breath,
Wiggle your toes,
Rub your hands together and come back to the room.
As a post meditation activity,
You can write a short story or poem about this photograph.
What can you imagine?
