Take a moment here in your seat to close your eyes.
And before we begin our meditation,
Take a second to think about your intention for being here.
Why are you sitting right now to meditate?
Is it to find more peace?
Is it to simply sit and breathe and feel yourself?
Is it to help you with sleep or stress?
Whatever it might be that brings you here,
Take a moment to honor that and be grateful that you are here.
For each particular meditation,
It can be helpful to set a little goal as well.
Oftentimes for me,
My goal is to not get frustrated when I notice my mind has wandered,
To celebrate the moment that I noticed the wandering,
And to come back with gratitude to the object of attention.
Know that there's no such thing as a bad meditation.
Allow yourself to stay disciplined throughout these next 10 or so minutes.
It can be tempting to plan while you're here,
To ruminate,
To organize.
Tell yourself you are here to meditate,
You're here to focus on your breath,
You're here to be.
And now let all of that go.
Take some time here to get comfortable in whatever you're seated in.
If you're in a chair,
It can be helpful to ground your feet and let your palms rest on your thighs.
If you're cross-legged on the floor,
You might like something,
A pillow or block under your hips.
Feel your spine upright,
A slight tuck of the chin,
And soften your belly.
Relax your face and begin to open your peripheral awareness up to notice your full conscious experience right now,
The sounds,
The feeling of your body here,
The breath,
The thoughts passing by like clouds.
Letting everything be as it is without judgment,
Without labeling.
Then keep your awareness open and expanded.
Let your focus be more on the sensations of breathing now,
The belly rising and falling,
The shifts of expansion at your chest,
The air passing the back of your throat,
The air passing the back of your throat,
The breath at your nostrils,
Maybe even the subtle shift of your diaphragm at the lowest part of your ribs.
Then bring your attention to rest right at the tip of your nose.
This will be our objective attention for meditation.
So while your awareness is open,
Letting the sounds and thoughts and sensations be in the background,
The focus will stay on the sensation at the nose as you breathe in and out.
Every time you notice that your mind has wandered,
Just very gently and with gratitude,
Come back to this sensation,
This attention at your nose.
Letting the temperature,
Feeling the air pass in and out.
Maybe it's a lack of sensation there and that's okay.
You might notice after this time of sitting that tension has built up in your face or your spine has rounded in a little bit.
Belly might activate.
Whenever you notice that,
Let yourself relax face,
Sit upright,
Soften belly and settle back in at your attention of the nose.
The breath in and out there.
Listen.
If sounds pull you away or thoughts drag you into a tangent or a planning,
That's okay,
It's normal.
The work in our meditation is just coming back again and again and again to your breath.
The more we meditate,
The more this process becomes smoother and quicker at catching and easier at coming back and sustaining attention here at your breath.
The more we meditate,
The more this process becomes smoother and quicker at catching and easier at coming back and sustaining attention here at your breath.
There is no such thing as a bad meditation.
Take a moment now to bow your chin to chest.
Keep your eyes closed.
Just take a pause there to notice how nice it is for the back of your neck to feel a breath here and a moment of gratitude for sitting,
Meditating,
Giving yourself this space.
Keep your chin tucked in.
Look down,
Open your eyes,
And take in the textures of your clothes,
The colors,
The chair or floor.
And then when you're ready,
Look up,
Maybe look around at the world around you that you just connected to.
Thank you so much for being here and meditating with me.
