The Nature Of Mind For Greater Clarity

So as we begin,

Just again bringing the intention that you have,

Why it is you show up,

What it is that you hope meditation and mindfulness will bring more of into your life or how it will support you.

Just allowing words to come to mind,

Whether it's greater happiness,

Greater ease or calm,

Perhaps greater connection to yourself,

More clarity,

Wisdom,

Whatever is true for you,

Just holding that intention in your mind as we begin the practice.

Just taking a moment now,

Letting go of the intention and just checking in to the emotional state and tone,

Just noticing there are any emotions or feelings present,

Calm,

Agitation,

Sleepiness,

Restlessness,

Whatever it is,

Just taking a moment to note that,

Just checking in.

And just taking a deep breath in now,

Filling the lungs and the belly completely and then gently letting it go.

And another deep breath in,

Sensing the breath as it fills the belly and the chest.

And then allowing the out-breath to be longer and slower.

And perhaps one more deep breath in your own time,

Allowing the breath to support you to bring your awareness into this moment,

Connecting body and mind,

Allowing the breath to just find its own rhythm now.

And just allowing the breath to flow effortlessly.

And just scanning the body from the head through the shoulders,

Torso,

Legs,

Right down to the feet,

Just sensing if there are any areas of tension,

Tightness,

Just seeing if you can let any tightness go.

Just relaxing and softening all the muscles of the body,

Particularly around the muscles of the face,

Softening the muscles around the eyes,

Relaxing the jaw,

Even relaxing the tongue.

Sensing each out-breath as an opportunity to let go and release,

Relax more deeply,

Allowing the belly to be soft,

And sensing the breath that is received in the softened belly,

Effortless.

Sensing which part of the body feels most relaxed or at ease in this moment.

And then scanning and noticing any tightness,

Seeing if you can just simply release and relax,

Allowing the body to soften with each out-breath.

And perhaps dropping your attention down to the belly,

Sensing as it rises with the in-breath and gently falls with the out-breath,

Allowing the breath to breathe itself.

And sensing the breath from the inside out,

As if you've never experienced it before.

Noticing its course or restricted,

Perhaps flowing with ease,

Subtle,

And just bringing a curiosity to the quality of the breath in this moment.

And as a way of settling the mind,

Stabilizing your attention,

If you feel it's supportive,

Just using counting,

So counting the breath from one to twenty,

At the end of each exhalation,

Counting one,

Then two,

Up to twenty.

If you lose track of the counting,

Just simply beginning again from one.

If you make it to twenty,

Just letting go of the counting and resting with the breath,

The belly.

Just practicing in silence now.

Good afternoon.

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Stillness from breath to breath.

And now,

We're moving into mindfulness of thoughts.

So,

Begin this practice redirecting your attention to the different senses,

And then opening up to mental,

The area of mental perception.

And so gently opening the eyes,

Directing your attention to the domain of sight.

And just taking in shapes,

Colors,

Just allowing the eyes to be soft,

Noticing how you can direct the attention to the domain of sight.

And in the scene,

Let there be only the scene,

Dropping the labels,

The concepts.

Just sensing this perception of sight.

And then,

With the eyes open,

Noticing how you can shift the attention to the domain of sounds.

Just tuning into sounds as they arise and disappear.

Allowing the eyes to just be soft.

Not focused on anything in particular.

Almost allowing the visual field to be broad,

Taking in the periphery,

But now directing the attention to sounds.

Noticing sounds in the room.

Noticing the most distant sound.

And now shifting the attention to the sense of touch.

Sensing areas of contact the body makes.

The chair,

The ground,

The bed.

Noticing any sensations within the space of the body.

Warmth,

Coolness.

Tumbling,

Just maintaining a flow of mindfulness now in the domain of sensation.

And just as we can be mindful of any of the doorways of senses,

There's another domain of experience that we can observe and sense.

And that is that of mental experience.

So now shifting the attention away from the five senses.

Allowing the eyes to be gently open.

Just focused,

Not focused on anything in particular.

Just shifting the attention now into the domain of the mind.

It's too challenging.

You may close the eyes,

But try it first with the eyes open.

Just directing your attention,

Your mindfulness,

To the space of the mind,

The domain of thoughts,

Memories,

Images that arise.

There's a way of locating this space,

Space of the mind.

You may like to bring an intentional thought to mind,

Such as,

This is the mind.

Bring this thought to mind.

Directing your attention into this space.

You may like to bring an image to mind,

The image of a loved one.

And as this thought or image dissolves,

Just maintaining your attention in this space.

And observing as thoughts arise and dissolve in the space of the mind,

From moment to moment.

And if there seem to be no thoughts,

Just relaxing in presence,

Stillness,

Patiently witnessing the space of the mind,

Till the next thought arises.

Another helpful metaphor for practicing mindfulness of thoughts is imagining that you're like a cat standing at a mouse hole,

Keenly awaiting for the mouse to pop out through the hole.

And so you're observing the mind like a cat,

Waiting for the thoughts to arise with full attention.

Practicing with your eyes open or closed,

Whichever you choose,

As you maintain mindfulness of the space of the mind,

Observing thoughts as they come and go.

If at any time you get confused or disorientated,

You can simply return to the breath or to sounds as they come and go.

And then when you choose,

Perhaps again,

Bringing an intentional thought to mind so that you can locate the space of the mind in which all thoughts arise.

Relaxing in silence for a few minutes.

Relaxing in silence for a few minutes.

Relaxing in silence for a few minutes.

Relaxing in silence for a few minutes.

And noticing where your attention is.

And sensing the difference between being lost in thought,

Carried away by the story,

Or present here,

Observing thoughts as they come and go.

Being the thought rather than being the thought.

Relaxing in silence for a few minutes.

Now taking some moments to investigate the nature of thoughts.

Observing,

Noticing where thoughts arise from.

Can you locate where the thoughts arise?

Where they dissolve back into?

And then again investigating the nature of thoughts.

Perhaps sensing the space between thoughts,

The space of awareness.

Where the thoughts seem to arise from the head,

From within the head,

Where in space do thoughts arise?

See what is true for you in this moment.

And for the final remaining moments of this practice,

You may like to try the technique of counting thoughts.

So remembering the metaphor of the cat.

Bringing your attention to the space of the mind.

Waiting,

Like the mice appear out of the hole.

Waiting,

Observing the thoughts to arise in the space of the mind.

This final minute just counting thoughts as they arise.

And is it you now,

Or maybe it is I,

Or maybe it is you now.

And now as the practice comes to a close,

Just allowing the mind to do whatever it wants to do.

And then bringing your attention back to sounds around you,

Sensing the body,

The whole body.

Just taking a moment to acknowledge the effort and the commitment to the practice that you've made.

And perhaps taking a moment to bring a wish.