Thoughts are part of everyone's human experience.
You don't need to push them away in order to practice.
Learning to bring your mind back from its thoughts is the practice.
But how do you let go of the thoughts once they've pulled you in?
This exercise offers one way to unhook yourself from those thoughts and simply let them be without pushing the thoughts away or denying their presence.
You can be aware of the thinking mind while remaining unattached.
Now go ahead and settle into a seated posture and close your eyes.
Notice the energy in your mind and body.
And as you come into a period of mindfulness practice,
You may notice the energy of your day resting in the mind and body.
The mind may be active,
The body may feel worked up,
Or you might notice a bit of lingering anxiety.
Think of a shaken snow globe with all that energy swirling around.
As you rest,
The little snowflakes fall gently to the ground.
Think of yourself as a snow globe and every snowflake as a thought.
And this way,
Watch as each and every snowflake falls to the ground.
Do not force yourself to calm down,
Rather let it happen slowly and organically.
Now go ahead and bring your attention to the breath in the body and choose one spot where the breath is felt easily.
It may be the center of the chest,
The abdomen,
The shoulders,
Or the nostrils.
Go ahead and observe the physical sensation of the body breathing.
Observing the breath for a few minutes,
Bring the mind back when it wanders.
Stick with the snow globe visualization and as thoughts begin to rise up,
Observe as they slowly settle back down.
Now after focusing on your breath,
Open your awareness to include your thoughts and your general mental state and instead of returning to the breath when the mind wanders,
Notice what the mind is doing.
You may notice yourself planning,
Fantasizing,
Figuring out,
Or replaying past experiences.
Whatever you observe the mind doing,
Let it be.
When you recognize a thought,
What happens?
Try not to encourage the thought,
But don't push it away either.
Allow it to be,
Allow it to go on its own.
See if you can watch the passing of the thought as it follows its natural trajectory and leaves the mind.
Go ahead and return to the breath and patiently wait until another thought arises.
Notice it,
Watch the thought,
And come back to the breath again.
Begin with mindfulness of the breath and the thoughts.
Notice when you're lost in thought or when the mind wanders for some time and if self-judgment arises,
Notice that just as you would any other thought.
You can always return to the breath for a few moments to ground yourself back into the practice.
