Hello and welcome to this guided meditation and introduction to mindfulness.
Mindfulness has become very popular these days,
Almost like a fad or a buzzword,
But at its core it is an ancient time-honored practice that can have significant benefits to your life.
Starting with the basics,
Mindfulness is in its essence the act of being in the present moment.
Our minds don't want to do this.
They'll often jump to the future and things that we're worried about,
Or to the past and things we regret.
But the present can be a very peaceful place,
It can be a very still place,
And being able to anchor yourself in the present will allow you to notice when your mind drifts ahead or behind.
This is a skill that's extremely helpful in terms of working with anxious thoughts,
With depressive thoughts,
With anger,
Or any other time that you get carried away by a thought or a feeling.
How we train ourselves to be more mindful is through mindfulness meditation.
The type of meditation we'll be talking about today is using our breath as an anchor.
So throughout this practice you'll be returning your focus to the feeling of air going into your lungs and that tension that comes from that,
And then the release of breath and the feeling of relaxation that comes from the out breath.
As we go through the exercise today your mind will wander to all sorts of different things,
And every time it does that's okay.
We're just going to bring it back and begin again.
So when you're ready,
Settle yourself into a comfortable position.
You could have both feet flat on the floor,
You could be lying on your back.
Whatever position you're in,
Make sure that you feel stable and grounded.
When you're ready,
Close your eyes and start to feel yourself relax.
We're going to begin by taking some slow steady breaths while counting.
First we'll breathe in for a count of three,
And then out for a count of three.
Then we'll breathe in for five,
And out for five,
And then in for seven,
And out for seven.
When you breathe,
Breathe in through your nose,
And then out through your mouth.
Let's begin.
Breathe in two,
Three,
And out two,
Three.
And in two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
And out two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
And in two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
And out two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Focus on the feeling of your breath now as you breathe normally.
The tension you feel as breath enters the lungs,
And the release when you let it out.
The breath will be our anchor during this exercise,
A home to come back to.
Your mind may wander to something in your physical space,
A sound,
Something you can feel,
When it does,
Notice that,
But then put it aside and return to your breath,
Because now is a time for you and your breath.
Your mind may go to something that you're worried about,
Something in the future,
Something in the past,
Something you need to do.
When it does,
Notice that,
And then gently put it off to the side and come back to that natural tension and release of your breath.
The point of meditation is not to keep a completely clear mind,
That is impossible.
The point of meditation is to catch yourself each time you get lost,
And then to return again to the breath,
Over and over and over.
We're going to take three minutes now to meditate in silence.
Every time your mind goes somewhere,
Notice that,
That's okay,
But then try to return back to the breath,
In and out,
Each time.
Three minutes starts right now.
Now,
When you're ready,
Bring your awareness back to the physical sensation of sitting in your chair or of lying down.
Feel your weight pushing down and the surface pushing back up against you.
And slowly,
When you're ready,
Open your eyes.
Thank you for joining me for your meditation practice today.
I look forward to talking with you again soon.
