Being Present With The Body In The Space Of Your Awareness

A gentle mindfulness meditation to help us relax into simply being in the present moment with the body and the breath flowing within our open and spacious awareness. Relax, let go and enjoy the simplicity of now.

Transcript

So I'm going to take a few slightly deeper breaths in just to get myself ready So as I bring my attention to my breath I'm now going to allow my breath to go back to a natural rhythm and I'm going to explore the sensations that happen in the body as I breathe in and out feeling the expansion in the chest or stomach with the in-breath and feeling the contraction and the release as I let the breath go The two parts of the breath, The in-breath and the out-breath gives us the opportunity for two ways we can approach being present So with the in-breath we can feel that we're not just bringing breath into the body but also bringing awareness and our attention into the body So it can feel quite an active and engaged process consciously choosing to bring our awareness into the present moment by bringing it right into the body with the breath So spend a few moments with this conscious in-breath I'm still going to notice my thoughts and sounds and everything else that's going on around So that's a good reminder to choose to keep my awareness nice and wide and open and light So I'm not going to try and exclude all these other things I'm going to just invite the breath to be in the centre, The foreground of my awareness taking centre stage, Taking the spotlight of my awareness and keeping your awareness nice and open and accepting every thought, Every sound, Every feeling allowing them to be there just in the background So not concentrating or focusing on the breath, Just paying it a bit more interest and filling the body with breath and awareness So with this active engaged approach of bringing the awareness into the body with the breath staying with that for as long as you choose, I'm just now going to shift my interest a little more to the out-breath and with the out-breath it's more about letting go and releasing, So relaxing into the present moment So I'm going to spend a few moments holding the out-breath in the centre, The foreground of my awareness and really enjoying that feeling of release and letting go and feeling like I'm allowing myself and my body to relax and rest into the present moment Allowing the breath in, Allowing awareness into the body and letting go of the breath, Allowing the body to relax into the present Allowing sounds, Thoughts just to continue happening around the breath, Around the body Just another thing to be aware of within the present moment, Within your awareness So exploring the awareness of the body for a bit longer, Allowing the breath just to continue Noticing all the other sensations throughout the body, Now that I feel I'm more present with the body I can explore exactly how the body is feeling First of all exploring all the sensations occurring within the body, Inside the body This may be coming from your muscles or your joints, Could be a feeling of energy in the body Maybe even that feeling of aliveness in the body So again spending as long as you want to with these sensations inside the body And when you're ready maybe switching your attention slightly more to the sensations from outside the body So this may be temperature, Pressure, Contact, Feeling how your body is being supported Maybe feeling the weight of the body, Contact of clothing, Air on your skin Exploring a variety of sensations from outside the body And then I like to see if I can hold both of these ways of exploring the body together within my awareness So noticing both internal sensations, Energy aliveness from within the body And the experience of sensations of touch and contact from outside the body, Seeing if I can hold both of these within my awareness And perhaps noticing now how the breath cuts across both of those I breathe the air in from outside the body and then I feel the air inside the body and I let it go again So the breath experienced from the outside and the inside And remembering to keep that awareness nice and open Letting go of any effort of focusing or concentrating on the body Just allowing the body inside and out and the breath just to be held gently in the center of your open awareness Allowing sounds and thoughts and feelings to still be there, Still part of this present moment Just choosing to explore the different sensations in and around the body So after I feel like I'm beginning to feel quite settled in the immediate present with the body The body's had an opportunity to begin to settle and relax into the present moment also And I like to look beyond the body, Beyond this immediate location And with my open awareness start to get a sense of the wider space around me, Still part of this present moment Just casting the net of the awareness wider So firstly getting a sense of the space of the room, The space around the body And breathing into and out of that space of the room And then as the awareness is non-physical, Has no physical boundaries or limitations Then I may as well go wider, Broader, More open and be aware of the space outside Surrounding me all the way out to the horizon in all directions and all the way above me up into the sky and even beyond So acknowledging, Sensing, Being aware that there's this vast open space all around me right now in this moment And continuing to breathe into and out of this vast open space Allowing the body to remain present and relaxed in the centre of this space So finally before we have five minutes or so without commentary, I'm going to see if I can hold three things in my awareness in particular The inner sensations, That energy and aliveness I can feel inside the body And the feeling of contact, Temperature, Pressure, Clothing and air on the outside of my body And this vast open empty space all around the body So the body inside and out in the centre of this vast open space And the breath flowing effortlessly between the two And allowing the thoughts just to flow freely And relaxing into the present, Into the body, Into this space Another five minutes or so And the feeling of contact, Temperature, Pressure, Clothing and air on the outside of my body And the feeling of contact, Temperature, Pressure, Clothing and air on the outside of my body And the feeling of contact, Temperature, Pressure, Clothing and air on the outside of my body So another minute or two, Really take the most of this time, This space, This opportunity to allow yourself to fully commit to being completely present in this moment with your body, With your breath Allowing your awareness to be really light and open and spacious And the feeling of contact, Temperature, Pressure, Clothing and air on the outside of my body And the feeling of contact, Temperature, Pressure, Clothing and air on the outside of my body Being a bit of movement into the body perhaps and opening your eyes just when you feel ready, No rush Sometimes when it's that time when you're coming out of the meditation or ending the meditation and you start to move and interact again then that contrast can help actually notice the peace and the relaxation that was there that perhaps we got used to gradually during the meditation So it's quite nice at the end of the meditation to really come out a bit slowly, Feel that beginning of that contrast between being and doing

Reviews

Being in the present moment helped me feel very relaxed and calm. The here and now state was good and strong which helped me to stay centred till the end of this fantastic meditation. The commentary was remarkably detailed as always by Stephen. 🙏🏻👌🏻✨❤️