MIDL 04/12: Mindfulness of Breathing: Joyful Presence.

In this meditation, Stephen Procter will guide you in the fourth of 12 Steps for successful Mindfulness of Breathing in daily life. Your fourth step is learning how to access the pleasure of letting go and mindful presence and allow it to grow in your mind as a feeling of contentment and joy. Daily meditation developing the pleasure of joyful presence accessed through letting go will teach your mind to let go more easily in daily life as well as create a foundation for the momentum of letting go in mindfulness of breathing. Support articles and instructions for this guided meditation can be found in the Free Online MIDL Insight Meditation Course by checking Stephens Procter's teacher profile.

Transcript

During this meditation we'll develop the skill of grounding awareness within the body until the body becomes self-aware.

You just start out by taking your meditation posture,

Placing one hand in the other,

Resting in your lap,

Thumbs lightly touching.

And just take a few slow gentle softening breaths to soften and relax into your body,

Now gently bring your awareness to your hands resting your lap,

Becoming aware of your thumbs touching each other lightly.

And establish mindfulness by continuously remembering that touch.

If you notice any restlessness within your attention,

Just use some slow softening breaths and soften and relax back into that point of touch.

Reestablish mindfulness by keeping that touch within your mind,

Remembering it.

And just take a few slow softening breaths.

Now open your awareness to the room around you.

Feeling the touch of air on your skin.

Acknowledging distant sounds.

If sound draws your attention,

Allow the flow and change within that sound to hold your attention.

Becoming very aware of the feeling of your body sitting here.

You can feel the borders of your body.

The touch of your arms,

Your hands.

The pressure of your body resting on the chair or on the floor.

Softening,

Relaxing into your body,

Becoming very present.

The feeling of your body resting on the chair or on the floor.

Noticing any feeling of coolness within your body.

Noticing any feeling of warmth.

Noticing any feeling of warmth.

Allowing your shoulders to drop slightly,

Noticing how nice it feels.

Relaxing your arms,

Your hands.

Feeling that relaxation into your chest,

Into your belly.

Your legs,

Your feet.

Noticing any feeling of warmth.

Noticing any feeling of warmth.

Notice how present,

How still your body becomes.

Noticing any feeling of warmth.

Noticing any feeling of warmth.

Now we're going to use this presence,

This stillness to develop insight into our mind.

By observing our attention habitually move away from our body.

Becoming very aware of your body,

Very present.

Now gently relax your effort.

And see if you can notice anytime your attention wanders away from your body.

Now gently relax your effort.

Now gently relax your effort.

Now gently relax your effort.

Now gently relax your effort.

As your attention wanders.

Just acknowledge where it wandered to.

Now taking a few slow softening breaths,

Often relaxing to your body,

Becoming very present.

Notice what it feels like now that mindfulness has returned.

Notice what it feels like to be present again,

How nice it feels.

Now gently relax your effort.

And see if you can notice anytime your attention wanders away from your body.

Now gently relax your effort.

Now gently relax your effort.

Now gently relax your effort.

Now gently relax your effort.

Now gently relax your effort.

Was your attention wandered?

Where is it wandered to?

Now gently bringing awareness back to your body,

Softening relaxing awareness into your body,

Becoming very present.

Notice what it feels like now that mindfulness has returned.

Notice what it feels like now you're present again.

From this presence within your body,

This time just notice any going out of your attention.

This means anytime your attention goes off to a sound,

Goes off to a thought,

Goes off to a sensation within your body.

And soften relaxed awareness back into your body,

Becoming very present,

Noticing that feeling of mindfulness within your body,

Feeling of presence within your body.

Now see if you can notice any going out of your attention away from your body.

Now gently relaxing awareness back into your body.

Now gently bringing awareness back to your body.

Now gently bringing awareness back into your body.

Now gently bringing awareness back into your body.

Now gently bringing awareness back into your body.

Now coming back into your body.

Now coming back into your body.

Taking a few slow softening breaths,

Relaxing deeply into your body,

Establishing mindfulness.

Becoming very present.

And when you're ready you can gently open your eyes.

Thank you for spending this time meditating with me.

Take care of yourself and have a wonderful day.

Reviews

Stephens’s MIDL meditations are helping me greatly. I’m more aware of my thoughts and more able to develop skillful responses to them.

Thanks for the guided meditation Stephen. It helped me to see my random mind in action 😅

Joy! Another new updated practice from Stephen! I highly recommend this whole series for a firm foundation for meditating. Lots of good silence as well as gentle cueing as always. Thank you. ☮️💖🙏🖖