Hi,
This is Keith Phybson.
Let's start with a short mindfulness practice that helps us to bring our whole body and our whole attention here into this body,
Into this moment.
We call it a grounding meditation or grounding mindfulness exercise.
This won't be long,
It'll just be about five minutes,
So find yourself a comfortable posture with both feet on the floor,
Allowing the eyes to close gently if that feels okay,
Or just lowering your gaze and bringing your attention into the areas of contact that your feet and your body have with the floor or the chair that you might be sitting in.
Noticing the solidarity and the solid nature of the ground or the chair and feeling where your shoes are in contact with your feet and your feet are in contact with the floor.
Now moving your attention to the thighs and the buttocks,
Notice where they have contact with the chair.
Just allowing the ground and the chair to support you and hold you,
Hold your body without really needing to do anything,
To be.
You're not a human doing,
You're a human being,
And you're being.
Now moving the attention to your back,
Where does the back touch the back of the chair?
Maybe you're sitting on a cushion.
But be aware of your back and see if you can feel the difference between there is contact and where there is none.
Maybe your shirt or your jacket.
That space in between.
Now moving the attention to your hands,
Feeling into your hands,
Maybe noticing the position of your hands.
Where are they?
What are they touching?
Perhaps the chair,
Your thighs,
Or maybe the other hand.
Just notice the position and the feeling.
You can ask yourself,
How do I know I have hands without looking?
You just know,
Right?
We can feel the hands from within.
And now for the last minute or so of our mindfulness practice,
Bring your attention to the breath.
If you like,
You can make the next couple of breaths a little bit deeper,
So you can really feel the breath.
Ask yourself where you feel it the most.
A deep breath in,
And a deep breath out.
Again,
A breath in,
And a breath out.
Feeling the breath at the nostrils where the air comes in.
Feeling it in the back of your throat,
In your chest,
Or maybe in your belly.
Use that place as the anchor for your attention.
This is where you'll come back to over and over again,
Whenever the mind wanders.
This is a practice.
Realize that you're practicing and bringing the breath back to your focus.
Letting the breath just breathe itself in,
And breathe itself out.
You don't need to make any other way with it.
And when you notice your attention is somewhere else,
Just gently bring it back to the breath.
In a moment I'll ring the bell and we'll end our short mindfulness practice.
Remember the breath.
In and out.
Bell.
