Please find a sitting position that allows you to be alert,
Your spine erect,
But not rigid and also relaxed.
Now close your eyes and rest your hands in an easy,
Effortless way.
Take a few moments to scan through your body and wherever possible,
Soften and release obvious areas of physical tension.
We begin the practice of coming back by establishing our home base.
While there are many possible anchors,
Such as sound or sensations throughout the body,
The most common and the one we'll be exploring here is the breath.
Please breathe naturally and simply notice where the breath is easiest to detect and where the breath also feels pleasant or at least neutral.
So you might be paying attention to how the breath feels as it flows in and out of your nose.
You might feel the touch of your breath around your nostrils or on your upper lip.
Or perhaps you feel the movement of your chest or the rising and falling of your abdomen.
Or perhaps you feel your whole body like a balloon expanding with the in-breath,
Deflating with the out-breath.
So just take some moments to bring your attention to the sensations of breathing in one of these areas,
A relaxed attentiveness.
There's no need to control the breath.
Rather,
Sense you're receiving the breath much like you'd listen to sound.
With a relaxed awareness,
Discover what the breath is really like as a changing experience of sensations.
This life-breath is your home base,
A place to rest and be aware.
So in these next moments,
Simply relax as the breath comes in,
Noticing what it's like,
And relax with the exhale,
Letting go,
And again noticing the immediate experience of sensations.
Great!
Noticing where your attention is,
You might find that your mind is drifted off into thoughts.
This is completely natural.
The mind is conditioned to move off into thinking about the future,
The past.
When you become aware of thinking,
You might use a soft and friendly mental note.
Just say,
Thinking,
Thinking.
And then pause and simply re-relax.
Just open the attention again,
Aware of the sounds around you.
Simply relaxing your body,
Just feeling the aliveness in the body.
Relax your heart.
Without any judgment,
Just allow yourself to gently return again to the inflow and outflow of the breath.
Let the breath be an intimate friend,
A home base that reconnects you with your own presence.
As you resettle with the breath,
You might notice other experiences.
The background sounds perhaps of a passing car,
Wind,
A bird.
You might feel sensations of warmth or coolness.
Whatever is in the background can be there without drawing you away.
Just continue to rest with the breath,
To relax with the breath,
With the intention of noticing when you can,
When you drift off into thought.
And then pause and just let the breath be an intimate friend,
A home base that connects you with your own presence.
And then pause and just let the breath be an intimate friend,
A home base that connects you with your own presence.
If you discover that the mind has drifted again,
Gently pause,
Re-relax,
Open the attention.
Without any judgment,
Gently come back into this moment.
Just to remember that thoughts are not the enemy.
You don't have to clear your mind of thoughts.
Rather,
You're developing the capacity to recognize when thoughts are happening without getting lost in the story line.
Each time you notice that you've drifted or noticed you've gotten lost,
It's an opportunity to strengthen your muscle of remembering,
Of again arriving here,
Now,
Gently coming back into living presence.
As you notice the mind getting quieter,
You might sense the peace that arises when you relax even more and immerse your entire awareness into the inflow and outflow of the breath.
Breathing in,
Know that you're breathing in.
Breathing out,
Know that you're breathing out.
Be aware of the beginnings and endings of each breath.
Really hear,
Awake,
At home in presence.
The poet Wu Man writes,
Ten thousand flowers in spring,
The moon in autumn,
A cool breeze in summer,
Snow in winter.
If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things,
This is the best season of your life.
You can practice this meditation of coming back informally as a way of quieting and collecting your mind at any time of the day.
Simply bring a full yet gentle attention to the breath,
Relaxing with the in-breath,
Relaxing with the out-breath,
And then continue on with your activities.
As a reminder,
For some people,
The breath is not the best anchor or home base.
It may be hard to detect and connect with or in some way unpleasant.
So if that's the case for you,
You might let the play of changing sounds be your anchor.
Are the feelings of sensations throughout the body or perhaps just the sensations in your hands?
It's fine to experiment and find what sensory present home base most helps you to settle and quiet the mind.
