Tuning into your surroundings meditation.
Start by feeling your whole body.
Simply feeling your body becoming aware of the state that it is in right now.
Observe whether it is tired or alert,
Relaxed or tense,
Heavy or light.
Notice whether you can feel it clearly or whether it's hard to feel.
Just noticing how it is right now.
Letting go of any tension that you find anywhere.
And just letting your body settle into whatever position it is in,
Sitting or lying.
And also becoming aware of your mind.
What thoughts are around?
Is your mind calm and present?
Or dull and sleepy?
Or agitated and scattered?
Also noticing your feelings and emotions.
Just acknowledging whatever is there to be acknowledged.
Whatever you notice in your body and in your mind.
Just letting it be there exactly as it is.
Without fighting with it or trying to change it.
Not thinking about it or trying to figure anything out.
Just letting it be there,
Bringing an attitude of acceptance.
And then noticing how it feels to breathe.
Feeling the expansion and contraction of your belly.
The rise and fall of your shoulders.
Maybe you can even feel the air brushing in and out of your nostrils as you breathe in and out.
And now just letting your breathing settle into its own rhythm.
Letting your body breathe naturally as it knows how to do and as it does even when you are not paying attention to it.
Just noticing how it feels to breathe in and out.
Letting your attention rest on wherever in the body your breathing is most obvious.
Breathing in awareness.
Letting go of tension on the outbreath.
Resting your attention lightly on the breath.
Not blocking anything out or getting too fixed on the breath.
Just using it as an anchor to keep your attention in the present moment.
Following each breath all the way through.
Start,
Middle and end.
Noticing the point where it turns around.
Being really curious how it feels to breathe.
And at any time your attention wanders off,
No matter where it goes,
Simply noticing where it has gone,
Then gently escorting it back to the breath.
Bring it back as many times as you need to.
Seeing how quickly you can catch your attention when it sneaks off.
Just aware when you are breathing in and when you are breathing out.
Letting go of any tension in your belly so that your body can just breathe naturally without any resistance.
Noticing any sense that you are controlling your breath a little.
Or thoughts that you are not breathing properly or deeply enough.
Simply seeing these thoughts for what they are.
Just thoughts.
And continuing to notice what it feels like as you breathe in and out.
Simply coming back to the breath any time your attention wanders off.
Letting thoughts and feelings just come and go from moment to moment.
Acknowledging their presence but not needing to engage them in any way.
And now letting go of the sense of touch and bringing your attention to hearing.
Of course you will notice your breath coming and going and still feel sensations in your body but now it's like there is a spotlight of your attention is on hearing and everything else.
All the sensations what you can see and smell and taste and any thoughts and feelings.
They can all just be there off in the shadows while the spotlight of your attention is on hearing.
Just noticing all the different sounds around you right now.
Sounds from close by.
Maybe even within your own body.
And sounds from the room or space you feel you find yourself in.
And sounds from the room or space you find yourself in.
And from right off into the distance.
See if you can become aware of the closest sound as well as the most distant one.
Holding both in your awareness at the same time.
Of course it's all just vibrations moving through the air.
No sound is any more important than the others.
Just sitting in awareness noticing fully each sound as it comes to you.
Just being aware of the rich soundscape in which you currently find yourself.
Not searching for any particular sound.
Just being actively aware of the soundscape around you.
Perhaps noticing that your attention has a habit of fixating on a particular sound.
Simply noting this has occurred and then coming back to listening to all sounds.
Noticing the sounds themselves.
The points of sound.
And the silence between the sounds.
Experiencing the silence that the sounds appear out of and disappear back into.
So you are aware of the sounds and the silence at the same time.
And now gently opening your eyes.
Letting go of the sense of hearing and bringing your attention to what you can see.
Just letting your gaze wander,
Taking in shapes and colours.
Noticing the way light reflects from certain objects and how other objects cast shadows.
Noticing movement and stillness.
Not fixating on any particular object,
Just letting your gaze wander and taking it all in.
Noticing how your mind tends to label everything you see.
To name it and maybe even judge it or think about it.
What do you notice and as best you can,
Letting go of any thoughts or labels or judgements and just seeing.
Literally just seeing what is there to be seen.
As you look in this way with fresh eyes,
Perhaps noticing how you start to become aware of things that you didn't see before.
This often happens when we bring mindful awareness to what is going on.
When we wake up to each moment,
We become aware of new things that we would normally have ignored or failed to notice.
Anytime you notice your attention has wandered off anywhere else,
Just bringing it back.
And now just sitting,
Feeling your body and your breath coming and going and noticing the sounds around you and what you can see and tuning in to any smells or tastes.
Really noticing what it is like to sit,
To simply sit and be present from moment to moment,
Breath to breath.
Going back over and over again to this moment and this one.
Being the awareness,
The mirror that reflects everything but is unchanged by it.
The depths of the ocean on which waves come and go.
Realising how we only ever really have moments to live.
And as we bring this exercise to an end,
Keeping as much of this awareness as possible as you move off into whatever is next,
Remembering that you can come back to your body,
Your breathing,
To any of your senses at any time during the day.
Anytime you find yourself zoning out or getting caught up in negative thinking.
