Introduction To Mindfulness Meditation

In this session we practice 'Mindfulness' followed by 10 minutes of silence. Choose an anchor for attention (the breath at the nose) and focus your attention there. When you notice your mind wandering, or find yourself lost in thought, gently and lovingly return it back to the breath. The goal isn't to empty the mind or alter the contents of consciousness, just to notice where attention is.
Discovering your attention has left the anchor is the entire point. You haven't failed at meditation, by noticing your mind, you can bring it back to the breath.

Transcript

Hello, And welcome to the session. I invite you to lay down or take a seat and get yourself comfortable. You can close down the eyes if you wish and begin taking some slow, Deep, Sighing breaths, Just dropping any surface level tensions that might be there. Taking a moment to check in to the feelings arising in the body, Things popping up in the mind space, Just releasing anything that might be there and turning your attention to the sensation of the breath at the nose. This is a core mindfulness practice. We choose an anchor for attention, In this case, The breath at the nose, And we focus upon it, And when our mind wanders gently and lovingly, Return our focus back to the sensations at the nose. Let's give it a try. If you find yourself lost in thought, Or you've moved your focus gently, Lovingly, Return your focus back to the sensations at the breath, Really focusing in on the sensations of the breath at the nose, Noticing the temperature change, A little bit cooler on the way in, A little bit warmer on the way out, Noting where you're noting the sensations of the breath at the nostrils, At the lips, Or somewhere else. The goal isn't to empty the mind, It's just to notice where the mind is, And then just gently and lovingly return it back to the sensations at the breath. If you find yourself lost in thought, Planning, Memory, Anxiety, Bodily sensations, Anything, That's okay, You can label it all as a distraction, And just gently, Lovingly, Return your attention back to the breath, Mindfulness is the act of purposely paying non-judgmental attention to the present moment. We practice this by setting an anchor, In this case the breath, We focus our attention upon that anchor, And when our mind wanders, We bring it back, The point isn't to empty the mind, It is to notice where the mind is, Where attention has wandered, The act of mindfulness is capturing, Understanding, Realizing that we've become lost, And returning it back to the breath. We're training two things, Awareness of where the mind is at any one time, And focus. In this way, Mindfulness meditation is one of the core pillars of meditation in general, Mental health, Focus, Insight, And clarity, So once again, Lovingly, Return your attention back to the sensations of the breath at the nose, And for the next minute, Let's really, Truly, Deeply feel those sensations, Track if the mind has become lost in thought, And return it again, And again, And again, Back to the sensations of the breath at the nose. Okay, So how did you go? This practice of mindfulness can be extended, You can choose any anchor you like, Typically or traditionally the breath is used, Because it is always there, Always available, And ever-changing, It's a great target of attention, But you can choose whatever you like, Sensations in the body, Sounds, Sights, Smells, Tastes, Or even aspects of the mind space, Becoming mindfully aware of the thoughts that are passing through, And other things. That can be a little bit more challenging, But it's one thing to explore if you like, So thank you for joining me, I'll see you next time, But if you like, We can now sit together for 10 minutes of solo practice, I will go silent, And we can practice our mindfulness meditation, Or any other practice you would like to work on, Let's begin, Okay, It's coming to the end of the session, You're welcome to continue if you like, Perhaps muting the audio, Pausing, Returning when you're ready, But for everyone else, I want to say thank you for joining in, Thank you for meditating, Today we looked at basic mindfulness, The act of returning our attention to an anchor, Most often the breath, But you can choose any anchor you like, Your mind wanders, You bring it back, Your mind wanders, You bring it back, The goal isn't to empty the mind, It isn't even to foster positive thought, The goal is to just become aware of what is arising without judgement, That's it, This is the nature of my mind, Your mind wanders, You catch it, You bring it back, This translates off the meditation mat when we notice our mind wandering, We can become lost in thought, Overwhelmed by emotion, Stuff happens, We capture it, We recognize our mind has wandered, And we bring it back, That's it, Again and again and again, But the ability to do this will extend far beyond the meditation mat and you'll notice yourself becoming less reactive, You'll notice yourself becoming calmer, You'll notice yourself being able to manage more and more complex, Challenging and previously overwhelming situations better, So well done, Thank you for joining me, I'll see you in the next session, Catch ya.