Get comfortable.
You can sit,
You can lie down,
But use a good posture that will afford space for your breath to go.
Take a deep breath.
However you just took that breath is just fine.
Take another deep breath.
Maybe go slower.
We breathe like this in meditation to focus our thoughts,
To focus our mind.
Now take another deep breath very slowly.
Control the intake.
And when you get to the top,
Pause briefly and then control the exhale.
Be aware.
And then when you take your next breath,
Do it slowly.
Be aware of the cool air around your nostrils.
Or maybe it's the openness of your sinus cavities.
Maybe it's the expansion of your belly,
The rise of your chest.
Whatever that is,
Be aware of the physical sensation.
When we focus on one of our five senses,
We're doing just that.
We're focusing.
Choose one thing that you feel in your body as your breath returns to normal.
Do you feel that itch on your cheek?
Do you feel that ache in your shoulders?
Is your mind going everywhere thinking of all the different things that you feel?
Let's get specific.
Be aware of your toes.
How do they feel in your shoes or in your socks or barefoot?
Are they cramped?
Are they free?
Can you feel air circulating around your toes?
Sit with that.
Observe it.
Be aware of it.
Enjoy it.
Now move up.
How does the bottom of your feet feel?
Do you have sore feet?
Are your feet relaxed?
Are your feet tender against a rough surface?
Do they feel something soft?
Move up to your ankles.
If you should feel nothing in your ankles,
Then focus on that nothingness.
If you've ever twisted your ankle,
Be aware of the absence of that pain right now.
Move up to your knees.
How do your knees feel?
Is there an absence of any feeling there?
If so,
Focus on that.
If there's any kind of ache,
Focus on that.
If you have any kind of knee problem,
Focus on the most recent,
Most painful experience you had.
Notice the absence of pain.
Notice the presence of pain in your knees.
Take another breath.
Notice what comes up as you notice feelings in your body.
It might be your shirt bunched up under your arm.
It might be a lower back ache.
It might be another itch on your skin surface somewhere.
If you do feel that itch now,
Let yourself just observe it without scratching.
Can you tolerate it?
What does an itch feel like?
Observe it.
In your mind's eye,
Walk around that itch and observe it from different perspectives and just see what it is.
Now,
If you still haven't scratched that itch,
Notice a pain in another part of your body and focus on it.
Observe it.
Allow yourself to be present with that other pain,
Great or small.
As you observe this other pain,
Observe what happened to the itch.
Is it still there?
Did you scratch it?
Did it fade away when you began to focus on something else?
There's no right answer.
Simply observe what the answer is for you right now.
Now I invite you to take another slow,
Deep inhale.
Hold it briefly and another slow,
Controlled exhale.
And as you do this,
Become aware of your whole body and how it tends to relax as you continue to take a couple more deep,
Controlled,
Slow breaths.
And as you continue to breathe,
Be aware of your surroundings.
You may notice sounds now.
See if you can identify three different sounds besides the sound of my voice.
Now you are becoming more aware of your surroundings.
You may be in a room and hear the hum of a fan on a computer.
You might hear the buzz of a light.
What three sounds can you hear right now?
Enumerate them.
List them in your mind.
Can you hear anything outside of your immediate surroundings?
Can you hear things inside of your immediate surroundings?
Can you hear your own body making sounds?
Maybe when you swallow,
Maybe you can hear your breath.
If it's very quiet,
Can you hear your heartbeat?
Are there any nature sounds that you can hear right now?
Wind,
Birds?
Sometimes when it's particularly quiet,
Some of us hear a specific tone.
Sometimes those tones are different in each ear.
Have you ever noticed if you have hearing in both ears,
How you can tell direction?
Think of a recent time when you could tell the direction of a sound.
Choose one of the sounds that you identified earlier and see if you can tell its direction.
Those with only one ear that functions lose a sense of direction in their hearing.
Can you imagine that right now?
If you experience it,
Observe that.
If you don't experience that and have hearing in two ears,
Imagine if you couldn't tell the direction of sound.
Your mind can function on two settings.
You're either thinking or you're observing.
When you focus on a sense,
You're allowing your mind to observe and that precludes thought.
When you want to focus,
Listen to this meditation and practice observing or practice observing on your own.
Observe how you can either think or observe.
Can you do both?
Try it right now.
How successful can you be at thinking and observing at the same time?
The moment you try,
You're observing.
In a moment,
I'm going to ask you to take another deep breath and I'd like you to observe the sounds that it makes,
The physical sensations,
And see how many different aspects you can observe in both sound and sensation as you now on your own time take a deep controlled breath.
How many sounds and sensations can you notice that you were not noticing just moments before?
This is being mindful.
Take a deep breath if it feels refreshing for you.
If not,
Let your head softly turn from side to side or tilt from side to side.
Whatever helps you get back into the space where you are right now,
Become more aware of that space.
On your time,
Your eyes will naturally flutter open.
There's a whole new vista of sight that you can now be mindful of.
Allow yourself whatever time you would like to notice what you can see.
Notice colors,
Notice shadows,
Notice light,
Notice shape,
Notice perspective,
Notice a three-dimensional effect if you can see with both eyes equally.
And all the while you're noticing what you can see in your field of vision.
There's all kinds of sounds that you may or may not be mindful of right now.
There's all kinds of physical sensations that you may or may not be mindful of right now.
How easily do you become overwhelmed by stimuli?
How relaxed and mindful can you be with different stimuli?
You can only be mindful of what you're mindful of.
And when you think,
You can simply observe that there's a thought.
At your own pace,
Take another deep breath and let it relax you.
And let this time of observation and mindfulness color the rest of your day.
