Please find your usual meditation position.
For me,
I like to sit upright in a chair with the back straight,
The neck is long.
Imagine that I have my hands behind your head and I'm gently pulling upwards towards the sky.
Eyes are closed and sink into the sensations of the body.
What can you feel physically right now?
Perhaps it's the sensation of your legs on the chair.
And if you haven't already,
Begin to breathe through the nose if possible.
Slow the breath right down.
I'll give you some counting if it helps.
Inhale,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Exhale,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Inhale,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Exhale,
2,
3,
4,
5.
Continue at that pace,
More or less.
And for this meditation today,
Just know that there's no such thing as a perfect meditation.
Okay,
Throw that idea away.
You've turned up,
You're here.
Whatever you think or feel is fine.
Relax the face.
Relax the shoulders.
Move your awareness into your arms and hands and let go of as many muscles,
Tendons,
Ligaments as you can.
Bring your awareness down into the stomach.
Notice the sensation of your belly,
As good or as bad as it feels.
Be with it for a moment.
Move down into the legs.
Relax the tiniest muscle that you can find.
And into the feet,
The weight of them as they touch the floor.
Now I'd like you to gently open your eyes.
Don't panic,
But just allow the objects and visuals to enter your vision.
And I'd like you to look at something in front of you.
It could be a mobile phone,
A book,
A pen,
A plant.
Allow the image to come to you.
And let's establish,
This object is not you,
Is it?
You are the seer.
You are the awareness.
Move your attention to another object in the room.
It could be a window or a light bulb.
It doesn't matter.
See the colours on that object.
And let's establish again,
This thing which I'm looking at is not me,
Is it?
Obviously it's not me.
You are the awareness.
The witness.
The seeing presence.
Well done,
Guys.
Slowly close your eyes again and we'll go within now.
Connect with the breath.
Let's take this idea to sounds.
Notice the sounds around you right now.
It could be the sound of my voice.
Or the sound of a car outside.
Or the sound of a baby crying nearby.
Choose a sound and gently focus on it.
Let's establish once more,
This object,
This sound,
Is not me.
Is it?
You are the awareness.
You are the listener.
You are the noticing presence.
See if you can find another muscle that may have clenched up,
Perhaps in the face.
Relax it.
We often re-tensify,
If that's a word.
Tension builds up and we just need to diffuse it.
Just relax whatever you can again.
Now we're going to connect to our mental dialogue right now.
The constant talking mind.
See if you can notice it.
And if you can't,
Do this activity.
Say to yourself mentally,
Hello.
Hello,
Oliver,
Or whatever your name is.
Hello,
Jane.
Can you hear that voice in your head?
Say it again.
Hi,
Ollie.
Hi,
Bethany.
Hear that?
That's your mental dialogue.
Some would call it ego or lower self.
Today let's call it mind.
Let's establish once more,
This mental voice is not you.
You are the seer.
You are the witness.
You are that which notices.
Let's tune into our mind a little more.
See if you can notice that the mind is generally negative to some degree.
It's complaining,
Perhaps,
Or wanting.
Maybe it's thinking,
What's for dinner later?
That person said that about me?
I can't believe I didn't get that job.
This meditation feels really stupid today.
Sometimes the mind is positive.
But this voice,
This mental dialogue that you coexist with,
Is never happy for too long.
And that's fine.
You are always the constant,
Pure backdrop underneath it all.
You are awareness.
And we often overlook that.
We get caught up in life.
This,
Right now,
Is your reminder,
Your excuse to lean back into your truest nature.
Awareness.
Blessings to you all.
Thanks for coming,
And I'll see you again in the next one.
