Welcome to this 15-minute guided meditation.
My name is Eve and I'll be guiding you through this practice.
So inviting you now to get into a seated position.
So finding a comfortable position,
Either sitting on a chair or on the couch,
Or sitting cross-legged on a cushion on the floor.
If you're on a chair,
Making sure that both feet are grounded on the floor,
So both legs are uncrossed,
And you can rest your hands in your lap or down by your side.
And if you're on a cushion,
As best you can,
Making sure that your knees are below your hips,
So that your low back is supported.
So taking a moment now to get comfortable,
Adjusting your posture as needed.
And bringing some awareness to your posture,
Bringing a little length to the spine,
Softening the shoulders,
Even unclenching the jaw,
Softening the forehead,
Even unclenching the hands if they are tightly gripped.
So the intention here is to be alert and awake,
But comfortable and as relaxed as you can be.
So if at any point during the practice you need to adjust your posture,
Please do so.
And the same applies to any of my instructions throughout the practice.
If at any point you feel stuck or overwhelmed in any way,
You can always let go of my guidance.
You can connect to a different anchor point,
Or simply rest and come back when you feel ready.
And you can close the eyes if that is comfortable to do so,
Or rest your gaze about two to three feet in front of you.
And to help settle into this practice,
You might find it helpful to take a few deep breaths,
Really tuning in to the sensation of breathing,
In through the nose,
And then out through the mouth.
And then allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm and rate,
In and out through the nose.
And noticing,
Paying attention to the sensation of the breath as the body breathes.
Noticing where in the body you feel this movement or sensation.
Perhaps it's in the nostrils,
Or the shoulders,
The chest,
The upper back,
The diaphragm.
Or you might like to rest your hand on your belly,
Noticing that movement as the belly rises and falls.
So wherever you feel this movement or sensation,
Resting your attention there.
And bringing a sense of curiosity to each new in breath,
And each new out breath.
So no need to breathe in any special way.
The body knows how to breathe.
But you may notice different sensations.
Perhaps a sense of coolness,
As each breath goes in the nostrils.
Maybe a warmness on the exhalation.
There is nothing else to do,
Nowhere to be.
And each time that the mind gets distracted,
Caught up in thinking,
Gently bring it back to the breath.
The mind naturally wants to think.
So if lots of thoughts are present,
You're not doing anything wrong.
A little bit like training a puppy.
You do so gently and with patience.
And when you notice the mind wandering,
Getting caught up in a story,
As best you can and without judging that you got distracted,
Redirecting your attention back to the breath,
Back to this moment.
And it's okay if this happens many times over.
It's in noticing the distraction that the mindfulness muscle gets stronger.
And noticing where the mind is now.
And gently coming back to the breath.
And noticing where the mind is now.
And coming back to the breath.
Coming back to this moment.
So still maintaining a light focus on the breath.
And now I invite you to broaden your attention to include sounds.
So not looking for any sounds in particular,
But allowing whatever sounds are present to just be here.
And not labeling the sounds,
Whether they're good or bad,
But listening as if this was the first time you ever heard these sounds.
So noticing sounds in the space that you're in,
But also sounds perhaps a little bit further away.
And perhaps noticing sounds within you.
Maybe the sound of your breath or the tummy making noises.
Noticing the volume,
The pitch,
The rhythm.
Listening to sounds.
And whenever you find yourself caught up in a narrative,
In a thought,
A story,
Each time noticing the distraction,
But gently coming back to this moment.
And trying not to judge that there might be lots of thoughts present or that you got distracted.
So letting go of any focus now on the breath,
On any sounds.
And just letting the mind do whatever it wants to do,
Just for a few moments.
If it wants to think,
Let it think.
And as we start to bring this practice to an end,
Becoming aware of the body again,
The different points of contact,
The hands resting in the lap,
Feet on the floor,
Maybe bringing a little movement into the fingers and toes.
And if you had your eyes closed,
Gently opening them again,
Taking a moment or two to familiarize yourself with the space that you're in,
Maybe having a little stretch.
And acknowledging how you feel,
How it felt to pause like this.
And to focus the attention in this way.
And as you transition now into the rest of your day,
Seeing if you're able to carry that focus with you,
Being gentle and being kind to yourself.
