If you struggle to remain sitting in silence,
This little trick might be for you.
I found that when I start meditating,
I can initially be quite fidgety.
My brain is sort of bouncing around and my body wants to follow it.
And I'll try the counting.
I'll try the labeling of the thoughts.
I'll try the deep breaths.
I'll try focusing on the breath entering and leaving the nose.
And for whatever reason,
I'm just having a bad session.
So what I've taken to doing is when I notice this happening is to start my session with a couple of focus rocks.
So what I do is I get a couple of crystals or rocks or even coins and hold them out in the palms of my hands.
And I rest the palms of my hands on my legs in the meditation posture.
There's a couple of reasons for this.
The small amount of weight on the palms of my hands both serves as a meditation mindful focus and it very subtly pins my hands to my legs.
It reminds me as I go to move,
There's something there resisting that movement.
And that's just enough of a mindful trigger to remind me of what I'm doing,
Where I am and what my goals are.
In this case,
To stay seated and do the mindful meditation.
So what I want you to do is pause this audio and grab yourself a couple of hand-sized objects.
Crystals work,
Coins work,
Stones work,
Even something like a key or a pen lid or just anything that you can hold in the palm of your hand comfortably.
You can choose something that has an emotional or spiritual significance or it's just any random object is fine as well.
So grab them,
Place them in your hands and just sit with your legs crossed on the floor or seated on a chair and rest those objects in the palm of your hands facing up.
And the palms of your hands are going to be resting on your legs.
Now I want you to close your eyes and take a long slow breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
And just draw your attention to the sensations entering your hands.
And all you're going to do for the rest of the session is just maintain your focus on the sensations coming from the objects into your hands.
If your mind wanders,
If you have thoughts,
Feelings,
Emotions or other physical sensations,
Acknowledge them and gently return your focus back to the sensation at your hands.
Let's give it a try.
Great work.
I really like the idea of a physical reminder of my meditation sessions.
Like I said,
When I'm struggling,
When I'm having a bad day,
When I'm a bit bouncy,
Being able to hold on to,
To squeeze,
To feel,
To feel that weight in my hand really does help me to get into the groove of my meditation practice.
And once I find that I've sort of settled down into the practice,
I can use this one as a lead into a regular mindful session where I'm just focusing on the breath at the nose or onto a visualization or whatever other practice that I decide to do that day.
It's a great way to settle down and start.
And what's more,
Having something to fiddle with,
To play with itself can be a mindful induction tool.
If you've got a rock or a coin or whatever object it is,
Just have a little feel of it.
What does it feel like?
How heavy is it?
Is it smooth or rough?
Is it sharp or dull?
Look at it.
What does it look like?
Is it shiny?
Is it dirty?
Is it clean?
What colors does it have?
Are there any lines or gradients or shadows on there?
By using these objects as a mindful tool,
Not only are you able to use it as an induction tool practice,
But if you find an object that you use repeatedly,
The fact that you're using that same object will prime you to get into the mindful state quicker.
Just like if you have a dedicated mindful place,
As in somewhere that you meditate all the time with its dedicated cushion and other paraphernalia,
When you sit in that cupboard,
When you sit in that place,
It primes you to start meditating quicker.
In the same way,
If you use the same meditation objects as a primer,
You'll be far easier able to attain the mindfulness state.
You'll be far quicker at attaining the mindfulness state.
Have a great day.
This talk was taken from the book Mindfulness,
A guidebook to the present moment.
