Settling,
Grounding,
Resting with the support of breath.
So to begin this practice,
Finding a comfortable posture,
Back straight,
Feet resting on the ground,
A posture that is dignified,
But at the same time with a sense of ease to it.
And then setting our intention for this practice,
To practice mindfulness,
And then your own motivation,
Why do you want to cultivate mindfulness?
How might the cultivation of mindfulness be of benefit to yourself and others?
And then moving into the phase of settling,
Gently guiding our focus inwards,
And gently with a light focus,
Resting our attention on the breath.
And breathing in a little bit deeper than normal,
And trying to keep the inbreath and the outbreath of similar length and rhythm.
And it might be helpful to use counting.
So breathing in on a count of 2 or 3,
And breathing out on a count of 2 or 3.
So right now we are doing two things.
We are focusing on our breathing and counting.
And if counting doesn't work for you,
You can use phrases,
For example,
Breathing in,
I know I'm breathing in,
Breathing out,
I know I'm breathing out.
And you might notice that thoughts will still arise within the mind,
And that's absolutely fine.
Within the practice of meditation,
We are not trying to have no thoughts or make the mind go blank.
But to notice,
When thoughts turn to thinking,
When our mind gets involved with thoughts and they turn into thinking,
And then gently acknowledging that and returning our attention,
We are focused gently to breathing and counting.
And if counting doesn't work for you,
Using phrasing.
And now coming towards the end of the settling phrase,
Focusing a little bit more on the out-breath,
And then noticing if there is a tendency for the body to relax as the body breathes out.
So body releases breath and relaxes,
And trying to see if the mind can learn from the body.
So body releases breath and relaxes,
Mind releases let's go of involvement with thinking and begins to settle.
And now letting our breathing fall back towards natural rhythm,
And moving onto the face of grounding.
So gently turning our focus towards the body,
Noticing the world of sensations within the body.
Gently noticing the points of contact between the body and the chair,
The seat and our feet and the ground.
Gently noticing the weight of the body on the ground or the chair beneath you.
And then getting a general felt feeling of sensations within the body.
And we can do this either by scanning through the body,
Starting from the tips of our toes,
And gently moving our attention upwards to the legs,
Torso,
Up to the neck and head,
And then gently scanning downwards,
From our heads,
Down our torso,
Our legs and back to the feet again.
And noticing any sensations present as we scan through the body.
Or you can just let whatever sensations are present capture your attention as they arise with no particular preference.
Just watching whatever sensations arise in the body.
Maybe you can notice a sense of tension or tightness in one particular part of the body.
So just aware of any sensations within the body as they arise.
And maybe noticing how focusing on the sensations of the body can hold the mind present.
And expanding our awareness,
Becoming aware of the whole body,
Sitting here on the ground,
And noticing how the ground beneath the body unconditionally supports the body.
So mind resting in the body,
Body unconditionally supported by the ground.
So as the ground unconditionally supports the body,
The body unconditionally supports the mind.
So mind resting in the body,
Unconditionally supported by the ground beneath us,
Surrounded by space.
So mind and body,
Here and now,
Surrounded by space.
And moving on to the phase of resting,
And just sitting here,
Mind within the body,
Aware.
Letting go of any attempt to be or do anything,
Even letting go of the notion to meditate.
So just being here,
Aware,
Mind resting in the body,
Seated on the ground,
Surrounded by space.
So allowing our experience to unfold as it is right now.
So sitting and being here,
Mind resting within the body,
Seated on the ground,
Surrounded by space.
And you might notice that the mind has a tendency to wander away,
Getting involved with thinking.
Maybe planning,
Or just daydreaming,
Or thinking about the past,
Present or future.
So acknowledging this and moving into the next stage.
So using a support to gently bring our attention back,
To hold our attention within present experience.
So in this practice we're using breathing as a support,
So gently resting our attention wherever we can notice the breath coming in and out through the body.
Maybe at the nostrils,
Or the abdomen rising and falling,
Or just getting a sense of the whole body breathing.
So just finding where you can feel the breath most prominent for you,
And gently,
Lightly resting your attention on the sensations of breathing.
So mind resting in the body,
Like the body rests on the ground,
Where our attention lightly focuses on the breathing.
So a light focus on our breathing,
A light focus,
A feather-like focus,
As if the breath was a stream and our attention was a feather flowing on the stream.
And reminding ourselves that in this practice we are not trying to have no thoughts,
But to allow thoughts to come and go without getting involved with them.
So reminding ourselves that in this practice we are not trying to have no thoughts,
But to just let thoughts flow freely,
And not getting involved with thoughts.
So breathing in,
I'm aware I'm breathing in,
And breathing out,
I'm aware I'm breathing out.
So breathing in,
I'm aware I'm breathing in,
Breathing out,
I'm aware I'm breathing out.
And at any time you might notice that your mind wanders again into thinking,
And that's okay,
Being gentle and kind to ourselves.
Acknowledging that,
Noticing where has the mind wandered,
Has it wandered away thinking about the past,
Present or the future,
And then gently bringing the mind back to the breathing.
So mind resting in the body,
Like the body rests on the ground,
With our attention lightly focused on our breathing.
And gently reminding ourselves that this is the heart of the practice.
Noticing when the mind wanders,
And gently bringing it back,
No matter how many times it happens.
Just gently noticing and bringing our attention back to the sensations of the breath.
So mind resting in the body,
Like the body rests on the ground,
With our attention lightly focused on our breathing.
So whenever we notice that our mind wanders away,
Gently bringing our minds back,
Mind resting in the body,
Like the body rests on the ground,
With our attention lightly focused on our breathing.
So with the light focused on our breathing,
With a feather-like focus,
We can see that our mind rests in the body,
Body on the ground,
Here and now,
With a light focus on our breathing.
And again,
At any time you might notice that your mind gets involved with thoughts and wanders away into thinking,
Acknowledging that,
Maybe noticing,
Was the mind in the future,
Past,
Or just daydreaming about the present,
Gently acknowledging that,
And bringing the mind back.
So mind resting in the body,
Body resting on the ground,
With our attention lightly focused on our breathing.
So just noticing,
Where is my attention now?
Without any sense of getting going wrong,
And if we notice that the mind has wandered into thinking,
Gently bringing the mind back.
So gently resting the mind within the body,
Like the body rests on the ground,
With our attention lightly focused on our breathing.
And gently reminding ourselves that the heart of this practice is noticing whenever our mind wanders away,
And then gently bringing the mind back,
Bringing the mind back to this body,
Resting here on the ground,
With a light focus on our breathing.
And now coming towards the end of this practice,
Gently letting go of the focus on our breathing,
And just gently bringing our awareness here,
Resting on the ground,
Surrounded by space,
Letting go within an ocean of trying to meditate.
And just being here,
Present.
So to conclude this practice,
Maybe setting the intention to carry mindfulness with us throughout the day,
As a dedication that any benefits that we might experience from this practice,
Will move on to others,
In ever widening circles,
And in your own time,
On the sound of the bell,
Gently ending the practice.
