Foundations Of Mindfulness Practice

Mindfulness is everywhere.

This concept that is simple to understand but not easy to practice.

Mindfulness comes from the Buddhist tradition and today we're going to be doing a practice that embodies mindfulness and teaches you more than just the concept of what it is.

To start,

It's helpful to have a frame of reference.

So the elements of mindfulness,

The foundations of mindfulness are we have mindfulness of the body,

We have mindfulness of the emotions,

And we have mindfulness of our thoughts.

So the first thing that we do is we breathe in and out,

Becoming aware of our breathing,

Becoming aware and following our breath all the way in and all the way out.

We become aware of the body as a whole and we consciously relax our body.

That is us taking care of our body through the power of the mind.

And then we move on to mindfulness of the emotions,

The feeling body.

While we do this we can generate a feeling of joy,

We can generate a feeling of happiness,

We can become aware of any pain in the emotional body,

And we can tend to our pain by recognizing it and accepting it.

Sitting on the banks of a river can be likened to watching our emotions.

You may think that the river that you saw yesterday is the same river that you see today,

But it is not.

The river has moved slightly,

The river has eroded the banks,

And millions of drops of water have moved downstream toward the sea.

And that is like our emotions.

They come and they go.

And then we have mindfulness of the thoughts.

We become aware of our thoughts.

Being aware of our thoughts is like watching the clouds in the sky.

The clouds move across the sky,

Sometimes they bring storms,

Sometimes they dissipate entirely.

That's like our thoughts.

They come and they go.

And we can recognize if our thoughts are wholesome thoughts or if they are not.

We can acknowledge them by saying a gentle hello to our thoughts and just knowing that they're there,

Knowing that they arise and they pass away.

And then once we learn to discern which are wholesome thoughts,

Which are good thoughts,

Thoughts of mindfulness,

Of concentration,

Of insight,

Joy,

Loving kindness,

Patience,

Faith,

Gratitude,

Compassion,

Love,

And inclusiveness,

And any other wholesome thoughts we can think of,

We can pick up and water the good thoughts in ourselves.

So with that,

Hopefully you have an understanding of what mindfulness really is.

And I will now lead you through a practice so you can embody that.

And when we go through this practice of mindfulness,

We beautify the mind and we help others as well.

Everything starts with awareness.

Gentle,

Loving awareness.

When we're aware of our pain and suffering,

We tend to it.

When we're aware of the pain and suffering of others,

When we have understanding and we and we suffer with,

We have compassion.

So let's move into our practice now.

I invite you to find a comfortable seat or laying down position and close your eyes,

If that feels safe to you.

And take a deep breath in.

And let that go,

Just cleansing and releasing any residual tension that you have from your day.

Let's do that one more time.

And let that go.

There's nowhere else you need to be,

Nothing else that you need to do right now.

Let's just offer this time and presence as a gift to ourselves,

Knowing that it will ripple out in ways that we don't yet understand,

But for the qualities of ourselves and for peace within us so that we may make the world a better place.

Let's bring our awareness to the sensation of breathing in.

We're always breathing in and breathing out.

We can be grateful for the gift of breath.

You breathe in,

You can say to yourself,

I know that I am breathing in.

When you breathe out,

You can say,

I know that I am breathing out.

Try to move beyond the words if you can.

And focus on the sensation of breathing in,

Following your breath all the way to the top.

And noticing when the breath switches to become an out breath.

And following that breath all the way out until it's all the way gone.

Again,

Following the breath,

Noticing the space in between,

Following the breath again,

In and out.

Now extend your awareness to the whole body,

The whole body as sensation,

Aware that you have a body.

Breathing in,

I am aware of my body.

Breathing out,

I relax my body.

Let yourself melt into your seat.

Let the earth hold you.

Breathing in,

I am aware of my body.

Breathing out,

I relax my body.

Bringing your attention to your emotional body now.

Imagine you're sitting on the banks of a river,

Watching your emotions.

What is the nature of that river?

Is it fast?

Is it slow?

It will all depend on where you are in your life right now,

What's going on.

And generate within yourself a feeling of joy.

You can imagine yourself or a loved one laughing,

Smiling,

Elated,

Excited,

Inspired.

Generate a feeling of happiness.

True happiness,

Contentment.

Contentment with where you are in your life,

With the wholesome things that you've done.

And knowing this,

You can become aware of any painful emotions that are present with you.

Grief,

Sorrow.

Just becoming aware and watching them.

Watching them like they're the river.

You can notice these feelings inside of yourself and turn toward them with compassion,

Extending energetically a hand or a heart and promising to take care of them,

To tend them.

Being gentle with yourself.

Any feelings that are painful are part of the human experience.

And we can't have joy without the suffering.

As Thich Nhat Hanh says,

If there is no mud,

There is no lotus.

Now bring your awareness to your thoughts.

Thoughts like clouds in the sky.

We all have thoughts.

We all have thousands of thoughts every day.

We all tell ourselves stories in our heads.

Just become aware of them as if you're watching them.

Watching your thoughts come and go.

Watching them as they arise.

Being with them for some time.

Noticing and thinking and then letting that thought pass away.

And as you work with these thoughts,

You'll begin to be able to discern your positive thoughts from your negative thoughts.

Your wholesome thoughts from your unwholesome thoughts.

And now make a conscious choice to water the seeds of your wholesome thoughts.

Make a conscious choice that throughout your day today,

As you are practicing mindfulness,

As you are reminded of this mindfulness practice,

That you come back to watering the wholesome seeds of positive thoughts.

And if you find yourself watering seeds of unwholesome thoughts,

You can remember.

It's just a thought.

Let it arise and let it pass away.

Now let's bring our awareness back into the body.

Awareness of the body as a whole.

And our breathing.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Start to bring some gentle movement into your body.

Coming back into this physical space.

And when you're ready,

You can gently open your eyes.

Mindfulness is the foundation of a meditative practice.

Of a meditative practice that can follow you into your day.

You can be mindful of your body,

Thoughts,

And emotions at any time.

You can be mindful of your body,

Thoughts,

And emotions while you are in sitting meditation.

You can be mindful of your body,

Thoughts,

And emotions while you are doing the dishes.

While you are walking.

While you are working.

While you are knitting.

While you are dancing.

You can be mindful at any time.

And I invite you to do so lovingly.

Be gentle with yourselves.

Thank you for your practice.