To begin the regular practice of meditation,
Of looking into ourselves,
Let's arrange to spend this time on a regular basis,
In a place where we can comfortably still the body and at a time that we will not be interrupted.
Allowing this to be a time in which we set aside the usual mode in which we operate.
That of more or less constant doing.
And switch to a mode of non-doing.
A mode of simply being,
Of allowing ourselves to be,
Of becoming aware of our being.
This of course will tend to slow time down and it's best accomplished by making this time and coming to sit in an erect and dignified posture,
Either on a straight back chair or on the floor on a cushion.
And as we allow the body to become still,
Just bringing our attention to the fact that we're breathing.
Becoming aware of the movement of the breath as it comes into your body and as it leaves your body.
Not manipulating the breathing in any way or trying to change it.
Simply being aware of it and of the feelings associated with breathing.
And if you feel comfortable with it,
Observing your breathing deep down in your belly.
Feeling the abdominal wall as it expands gently on the in-breath and as it falls back towards your spine on the out-breath.
And simply being totally here in each moment with each breath.
Not trying to do anything,
Not trying to get any place.
Simply being with your breathing.
Tete ausu komme de pauze.
Just giving full care and your full attention to each in-breath and to each out-breath as they follow one after the other.
In a never-ending cycle and flow.
Now of course you will find that from time to time your mind will wander off into thoughts,
Fantasies,
Anticipations of the future,
Worrying,
Thoughts of the past,
Memories,
Whatever.
But when you notice that your attention is no longer here,
No longer really on your breathing,
And without giving yourself a hard time,
Just intentionally escorting your focus,
Your attention back to the breathing and picking up wherever it happens to be.
On an in-breath,
On an out-breath and just observing.
Moving up close to your breathing and keeping your attention here as if you were riding the waves of your breathing.
Fully conscious of the duration of your in-breath and the duration of your out-breath.
From moment to moment.
And every time you find that your mind has wandered off,
To just be aware of it as soon as you can be.
Gently bringing it back to your belly,
Back to the present,
Back to the moment to moment observing of the flow of your breathing.
And in the practice of your meditation,
Using the awareness of your breathing,
Using your breath as an anchor to refocus your attention,
To bring you back into the present whenever you notice your mind is moving out of the present or becoming unbalanced or absorbed or preoccupied or reactive.
The breath can function as an anchor to keep you in the present and to help you tune to this state of relaxed awareness and stillness,
Which is itself a profound state of balance.
Now,
As you observe your breathing,
You may be finding that from time to time sensations from your body come into the field of your awareness.
Some discomfort or agitation,
Which may be quiet,
Intense from time to time.
And as you maintain the awareness of your breathing,
See if it is possible now to just to expand the field of your awareness around your breathing so that it includes a sense of your body as a whole.
As you sit here and feeling your breath,
If you will,
From head to toe as you become aware of all the sensations in your body.
The sensation in particular of touch,
Of contact with the chair or with the floor,
Contacts made by the feet,
By the buttocks and the legs as you sit in a straight posture with the back erect and the head balanced and dignified.
So that we are now allowing the observation to include not only the flow of our breathing but a sense of your body as a whole with whatever feelings or sensations come up in any moment.
And being here with whatever does come up without judging it,
Without reacting to it.
Just being fully here,
Fully aware,
Totally present with whatever your feelings are with your breath and a sense of your body as a complete,
Dignified whole.
And again,
Whenever you notice that your mind may have wandered off,
Just bringing it back to your breathing and to a sense of your body as you sit here.
Not going anywhere,
Not doing anything,
Just simply being,
Simply sitting.
From moment to moment,
Being fully present,
Fully with yourself.
Of course,
And it happens with all of us,
There may be times when the sensations in one part of our body really become overwhelming and dominate the field of your awareness to the point where it becomes very difficult to stay focused and concentrated.
If this happens,
You have two alternatives.
One is to mindfully shift to a more comfortable position to relieve some of the intensity.
And if you choose to move,
To just be aware of the intention to do it before you actually move.
Another way to work with this intensity is to try to simply stay with it,
Without moving and restricting the attention in these periods of intensity and zeroing right in on that region of the body that is experiencing it.
Putting the mind right there in the knee or the small of the back or wherever it may be.
Just going right into the sensation in each moment and breathing into it,
Breathing out with it.
Totally experiencing what your body is saying to you right now,
Right here.
Responding to it by opening and softening rather than tensing,
Embracing and resisting.
So that even within the intensity you may find stillness and acceptance.
And even if this is difficult,
Simply being aware of your reactions.
Observing them as well as the sensations.
And when the intensity subsides,
Just re-establishing your awareness at the level of your body as a whole and of the breath as it moves in and out of your body.
Coming back to a sense of fullness of each in-breath and a fullness of each out-breath.
Now as you sit here,
If you feel comfortable with it,
Once again allowing the field of your awareness to expand.
This time we let the focus move toward hearing,
Toward sounds that we may be aware of in the environment or perhaps from within your body.
And just shifting the focus of one's attention from the breath and from the sense of your body as a whole.
Now just moving it towards the ears and letting the consciousness being particularly the consciousness of hearing.
But simply receptive to whatever it is that enters your consciousness as sound.
Full awareness of hearing from one moment to the next.
As you sit here and as you breathe.
And if you do hear something,
Not judging it or deciding whether you like it or dislike or whether it's noise or beautiful,
But simply residing in the moment to moment being with hearing.
Sitting in stillness,
Aware of sound and aware of the space between sounds.
Aware of silence,
Moment by moment by moment.
And again if at any point you notice that your mind is distracted,
Just bring it back,
Either to breathing to anchor you or to your ears to right now to whatever is here as you sit.
Now as we sit here,
Once again allowing the field of your awareness to expand.
We began with the breathing and then we expanded the awareness to include the body as a whole and any particularly intense regions of sensations.
And then we expanded to include sound as well.
Developing a capacity both to concentrate deeply on one particular object of attention and also to become flexible so that one can be mindful of various aspects of perception and one's life experience.
This time we will expand the awareness to include thinking,
To include thoughts as they move through your mind.
So then rather being distractions or breaks during your concentration,
We will now focus and open to the observation of the thinking process itself.
Letting your breathing and sense of the body and sounds and so forth all be in the background.
And allowing the thinking process itself to become center stage for the moment.
And rather than following individual thoughts or getting involved in the content and going from one thought to the next to the next,
We'll simply be seeing each thought as it comes up in the mind,
As a thought,
As an observable event.
Just as a sound would be an observable event.
Letting the thoughts just come and go as you sit and dwell in stillness.
Witnessing them,
Observing them.
The thoughts of course can be about anything.
The future,
The past,
Your body.
Thoughts about thoughts,
Thoughts about feelings.
Whatever they are,
Thoughts about food,
Thoughts about sleep,
Thoughts about time.
Whatever they are,
Just observing them as events in the field of your consciousness as they come into your awareness.
As they linger and as they dissolve as they will.
And just sitting with this awareness of thoughts coming and going.
And as you dwell in the present,
Observing them.
If you find yourself at any point drawn into the stream of thinking,
Into the current of thoughts,
And you notice that you're no longer observing them or being with them,
But you're off some place.
Just coming back to the observation of the missed events.
And using your breathing and the sense of your body to anchor you and to stabilize you in the present.
Now,
Of course,
The thoughts can take any form.
They can have any content and they can be either neutral or very highly charged.
And in particular,
If your thoughts come up that have fear in them,
Then just be aware of its being here.
This being aware of fear and letting these thoughts come and go.
The same of worries,
Preoccupation of one kind or another,
Pressures in the mind,
The thought of deadlines or obligations.
And again,
Regardless of the charge that the thought has to you,
Just observing it as a discrete thought and let it just be here without pursuing it or without rejecting it.
Noticing that,
Of course,
From moment to moment,
No thoughts will come and go.
Now,
For the remaining time,
Just letting go of all objects of attention,
Your breathing,
Your body,
Hearing,
Observing,
Thinking.
And instead focusing on anyone,
Simply allowing yourself to just sit here and be fully aware in each moment and aware of whatever there is within this fear of you being.
If thoughts come,
Observing thoughts.
If sounds,
Then sounds.
If pain,
Then pain.
If it's the breath that is most predominant,
Then just being with your breathing from moment to moment.
Just sitting in stillness,
Looking for nothing,
Being sensitive and present with it all,
Just as it is,
Just as it unfolds.
If you will,
Experiencing the ground of being,
Experiencing the ground of awareness out of which all perceptions arise.
Just being right here with it,
Complete as you are,
Human,
Whole.
And as the practice finishes,
Recognizing that you have spent this time intentionally nourishing yourself by dwelling in this state of non-doing,
In this state of being.
Intentionally making time for yourself to be who you are.
And you might want to just congratulate yourself for taking the time and the energy to do this and to allow yourself the occasion to do it on a regular basis.
And to nourish yourself in a deep way,
To allow the benefits of this practice to expand into the active expression of yourself in everyday life.
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