Welcome,
And thank you for joining me.
This meditation is titled,
Release the Noise of the Day.
It's part of the Zen in 10 series.
In Zen,
There's a saying,
Let the mind be noisy,
Its nature is to move.
Just as the flakes in a snow globe swirl when the globe is shaken,
The mind fills with movement throughout the day,
Different thoughts,
Emotions and memories,
Reactions.
This isn't a mistake,
It's simply what the mind does,
The same way the heart pumps blood and the lungs draw breath.
In our mindfulness practice,
When we try to force the mind into silence,
It could stir things up even more,
Like shaking the globe again and hoping the snow will settle faster.
But when we stop shaking and stirring,
Everything has a way of beginning to settle on its own.
This is the heart of Zen practice,
Not pushing thoughts away and not clinging to them,
But allowing them to move until they find their own stillness.
In modern psychology,
This is called cognitive diffusion,
Learning to notice thoughts without letting them define us.
Today we'll explore this gentle kind of acceptance and let the snow in the mind settle,
Not through force,
But through space.
Let's begin.
Go ahead and find a position for this practice that feels comfortable and supported.
Seated and lying down are two great options,
But do what feels good to you in this moment.
When you've arrived in that place,
Let your eyes close softly and begin to feel the weight of your body settling into this moment.
Begin to follow the rise and fall of your breath.
Don't change it or guide it,
Just notice it.
Inhale,
And the body expands slightly.
Exhale,
The body softens just a little.
Let's take three soft breaths together to help the body release any lingering tension.
Inhale naturally,
And exhale slowly.
Inhale,
And exhale.
One more time.
Smooth inhale,
And now a slow releasing exhale.
Go ahead and allow the breath to settle back into its natural rhythm now.
I'd like you to imagine the flakes inside the snow globe again.
As you breathe in,
There's a soft lift,
A quiet swirl of flakes in the air.
As you breathe out,
The flakes begin to fall,
Settling towards stillness.
Inhale,
A moment of light movement.
Exhale,
A gentle return.
Let's spend some time here together,
Simply watching the snow rise and then settle.
As we watch the snow rise and fall,
You may begin to notice how different this quiet feels,
Especially compared to the constant movement of thought and tasks that fill our minds during the day.
As these moments come to mind during our practice,
Which they eventually will,
I'd like you to imagine each thought or task as a tiny flake of snow drifting inside our snow globe.
Some might fall quickly.
Some swirl around for a moment.
Some might even dissolve before you recognize them.
You don't need to follow them or attach to them,
And you don't need to push them away either.
Just watch.
Each time you notice the mind becoming busy again,
Return to the simple act of watching.
You might begin to notice that,
When you stop stirring the globe,
The flakes begin to fall on their own.
Allow that settling to happen naturally.
There's nothing to fix and nothing to control,
Just thoughts appearing and then disappearing,
Slowly,
Softly,
Without any effort from you.
Let's sit together in this stillness for a little while,
Just breathing and being and watching the snow.
As we near the end of our practice,
Begin to feel the body again.
The temperature of the air.
The steady movement of your breath.
Let's take one final big inhale together.
And then a long,
Slow,
Releasing exhale.
When you're ready,
Slowly open your eyes.
You may notice a sense of quiet that wasn't here when we started.
A little bit more space than before.
As you move forward,
Remember,
You don't need to force quiet.
When you stop stirring the globe,
Quiet returns on its own.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
You are always welcome here.
Namaste.
