Welcome to today's meditation where we're going to use our five senses to come into the present moment,
Ground ourselves and orientate ourselves in the here and now.
So you're welcome to sit or stand.
What can be quite simple and straightforward is to sit on a sofa or chair with your back supported by the back of the furniture and simply to uncross your legs and plant the feet on the ground and if you are sitting on furniture to wiggle your bum to the back of the seat.
Relax the shoulders,
Relax the belly,
Allow the weight of the body to press down into the seat and just notice your body here sitting,
Finding contact with what's beneath you,
Maybe noticing the weight of your body,
The lean of your body and the existence of the breath in your body.
If the eyes are closed then just gently open them and take in the room around you,
The shapes,
The colors,
The spaces of light,
The spaces of dark and to keep your eyes just with a soft gaze without hard focus,
Slowly move your eyes around the room and begin to notice and label five objects.
Take your time,
It doesn't matter what you land on but as you notice,
Take in the shape and the color and the texture of that object and then move on to the next one,
Taking in the shape and the color and the texture,
Just observing,
Seeing what is and making no judgments or decisions about any of these things but just observing for what is.
When you've taken in those five objects,
Bring your awareness now to the sensation of touch and we'll do the same kind of practice through touch,
This time for four things,
Four things we can touch,
So that might be your own fingers touching one another,
It might be the touch of your clothes against your skin or the fabric of the chair that you're on but slowly and mindfully just spend the next minute or two exploring four things that you can touch,
This time paying attention to the temperature,
The texture and the sensation.
Take your time,
Allow yourself to experience the touch again without thinking,
Without judging,
Without needing to classify but really just in the moment experiencing of it,
Let your mind be absorbed by the temperature,
The texture and the sensation,
Really nice.
There's no rush so if you're done with those four touch experiences,
We'll bring our awareness now to sound.
It might be easier here to close your eyes and to feel and to sense into the existence of sound both through my voice but also through the room around you and the space beyond the room that you're in,
Three things and you're going to one by one allow yourself to focus on each,
This time paying tribute to simply the experience of sound without getting caught up in labeling it as this or that but three sounds could be coming from your own body,
Could be coming from the street outside,
Allowing yourself just to hear the sound for the sound that it is,
Really nice.
So just let those sounds dissipate,
Let your awareness return again to the sound of my voice and then bringing awareness now to the nose and your sense of smell.
Our next practice or portion of the practice is to experience two different smells and again it might be the smell of your body or your clothing,
It might be the smell in the room or beyond it,
One might be stronger or more subtle than the other and this time much with the sound just allowing yourself to experience the smell even if it's unpleasant,
Focusing on the first,
Trying not to label it too much or judge it or break it down but really just to take it for what it is and to notice of course the richness of it or the layers of it and now to locate and experience another smell and to rest your awareness on it taking it in,
Experiencing it,
Really nice and now finally bringing awareness to taste,
Becoming aware of any taste,
One taste,
It might be inside your mouth or on your lips,
I'm just taking some moments here to sit with that taste being with it,
Noticing and resting into its presence,
Okay lovely,
Still with the eyes closed just let that practice slip away and just easily and softly cast your mind back over the five senses and your experience of being with them and in them with your attention,
Tuning into any observations you make about how it feels to be on this side of the practice and take your time to come out from here stretching,
Moving,
Deepening the breath and slowly blinking open the eyes to come back into the space,
Thank you for joining me,
Namaste
