We'll start this meditation today by taking a few deep breaths.
In and out.
As you breathe out,
Allow your shoulders to relax.
Ease into your seat.
Feel the weight of your body sitting here.
Allowing the breath to return to its natural state.
As you inhale and exhale,
Just allow the body to relax.
Allow your face muscles to drop down and gravity pull.
Just ease into your seat.
Allow a sense of calm to come over your body.
Begin to become aware of your breath as it leaves and enters the nostrils or as your chest and belly rise and fall.
Wherever it's easiest for you to identify the feeling,
The sensations of the breath.
Not thinking about the breath,
But experiencing the sensations themselves.
As you exhale,
Just allow the breath to return to its natural state.
Inevitably,
You will lose track of the breath.
Thoughts,
Sensations,
Feelings,
Sounds,
They may distract you or pull you away from your breath.
That's fine.
I'm totally normal.
When you notice those things,
Note that you've had some distraction.
Thoughts especially will come,
Carry you away into the past or into the future.
Just note that you've had a thought and bring your attention back to the breath.
Without being critical,
Without feeling you've done it incorrectly or failed at paying attention to your breath,
It's natural for your thoughts to carry your attention away.
Just simply acknowledge that you've been carried off and gently come back to the breath.
You may do this thousands of times,
Again and again.
You'll be focusing on your breath.
Something will carry you away.
You'll notice and simply return to the breath as your anchor,
Feeling those sensations,
Being in the present moment with your breath.
And you may stop breathing.
Allowing the rhythm of the breath to just gently carry you into a state of stillness.
Present,
Aware of what's happening right now.
As you practice this,
You begin to identify the separation between you and the thoughts that occur.
You're not your thoughts.
You don't need to let them carry you away.
You have a choice.
You can identify those thoughts,
Recognize them,
And come back to your present time awareness.
And as we practice this,
In sitting meditation,
We're strengthening the ability to identify that we're not our thoughts.
And when they come,
We're able to decide if the thought is worth our attention or not.
You'll begin to be able to discriminate between thoughts that are useful and those that are just distractions.
Again and again,
Returning to the breath,
Simply feeling the current present sensations as they unfold.
Simply breathing.
And as we practice this,
In sitting meditation,
We're able to identify those thoughts,
Recognize them,
And come back to our present time awareness.
And as we practice this,
In sitting meditation,
We're able to identify those thoughts,
Recognize them,
And come back to our present time awareness.
As this meditation comes to a close,
You may repeat the phrases gently to yourself.
May I be happy,
May I be at ease,
May I be strong,
Safe,
May I have stillness and peace.
May we all be happy,
Strong,
At ease.
May we be at peace and have stillness.
As we go about our day,
Remember to come back to the breath,
Even for a moment.
The breath is always with us and available.
Simply breathing.
