This guided sitting meditation is produced by Kalyana Center for Mindfulness for the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Course designed by Jon Kabat-Zinn and here guided by Eva.
The duration of this meditation is approximately 40 minutes.
Please make sure you are undisturbed during this time.
It is best to turn the phone off completely.
This practice supports you in deepening and expanding your awareness and helps developing insight into the nature of the heart and mind.
It is a time just for yourself.
Be open with a sense of interest to whatever your experience during this practice will be.
It might be pleasant or unpleasant at times.
See if you can be with it,
With yourself,
Without judgment.
Letting go of expectations that your meditation will or must be a particular way.
Each time you sit down it will be different.
Be open and curious about the very moment and let your practice unfold naturally.
It is best if you can sit in an erect and dignified posture,
Either in a chair or on a cushion or bench on the floor.
It is important to assume a posture that is upright yet relaxed.
If you suffer from back pain or other pain that prevents you from sitting upright,
Then adjust the posture to your needs.
The posture has to be helpful in the attempt to be alert and observant over the next 40 minutes.
Place your hands on the knees or if it is more comfortable,
Rest them in each other on your lap.
Close your eyes gently and check your posture again.
Allow your body to move a bit from side to side or back and forth to find a place of balance in which the body supports itself,
So that it can rest upright and relaxed.
Take your time to find the right posture.
It is a very important base for your sitting meditation.
Now sitting comfortably upright and relaxed,
Leaving any concerns aside and bringing your full attention to this moment,
To being here,
Now,
Paying attention to the inner experience without distracting yourself with the countless things that usually pull our attention away.
Trusting that everything you need to do or need to figure out will still be there at the end of this sitting meditation.
Keeping in mind that this is a very precious time of being with yourself.
Now being aware of the contact of your feet or feet and legs on the floor.
Paying attention to the contact of the buttocks to the chair or mat.
And then bringing your awareness to the contact of your hands,
Feeling the sensations in your hands,
In contact with the legs or with each other.
Being aware of your body sitting here.
Alert,
Awake,
Interested.
And now sitting here,
Becoming aware of a movement in the body that is caused by the breathing.
Where is it felt most easily,
Most distinctly?
Maybe at the chest,
As the chest is expanding with each in-breath and contracting a bit with each out-breath.
Or maybe you feel the breathing most clearly around the diaphragm.
Or maybe at the abdomen,
As the belly rises a bit with each in-breath and falls a bit with each out-breath.
Choosing the area where the breathing is most distinct.
And observing this ongoing movement as the breath comes and goes.
Breathing in,
Being aware of the in-breath.
Breathing out,
Being aware of the out-breath.
Observing this process with gentle,
Kind interest and without any judgement.
Not manipulating the breathing,
But just letting it be as each breath appears and disappears.
Maybe it changes in different ways.
Being curious how it is in this moment and in the next moment.
Breathing in,
Being aware of the out-breath.
Being with and observing the in-breath from the very beginning to the end of it.
And then being with and observing the beginning of the out-breath to the end of it.
Then waiting for the next in-breath to occur by itself.
Moment by moment presence with the natural movement of the breath.
Breathing in,
Being aware of the out-breath.
Breathing in,
Being aware of the out-breath.
At times it can be helpful to accompany the breathing with a little label in the back of the mind.
Saying in as you feel and observe the in-breath.
Saying out as you feel and observe the out-breath.
Breathing in,
Being aware of the out-breath.
Breathing in,
Being aware of the out-breath.
Then shifting your attention away from that area,
You're becoming aware of the whole of the body.
The whole body sitting here.
The whole of the body is being breathed.
Maybe there is a sense of warmth or softness as you connect with the body in this way.
A sense of being in the body.
With an awareness of the limbs,
The trunk,
The head.
A sense of the shape of the whole body.
The whole body expanding and contracting with the breathing.
Living,
Breathing body.
Then leaving the breathing in the background of the awareness and paying more specific attention to sensations in the body.
The body is filled with countless sensations you might feel and be aware of at times.
Warms in some areas or coolness or heat.
A sense of heaviness or lightness at times.
Tension or pressure or tightness.
Tingling or vibrations.
Pleasant sensations or unpleasant sensations might appear and disappear in their own way.
Especially paying kind-hearted attention to any discomfort or pain.
Observing any sensations closely with curiosity.
How does it really feel?
What quality does a sensation have?
Does it change or does it stay the same as you're observing it?
Sensations all boil down to either being pleasant or unpleasant or somewhat neutral.
Being aware when there is a reaction to a sensation,
A leaning into a pleasant sensation or a pulling away from some discomfort.
Being kindly and patiently with whatever appears in the body.
Then moving away from the body and opening the attention to sounds.
What sounds can be heard at this moment?
Maybe sounds from your own body,
The breathing.
Sounds from within the room.
Sounds from the outside.
Familiar sounds.
Unfamiliar sounds.
Sounds that feel pleasant,
Sounds that feel unpleasant or kind of neutral.
Observing sounds as they come and go.
Being aware of different qualities,
Pitches,
Beginnings and endings of sounds.
Being aware of reactions to sound and associated thoughts.
Always coming back to the bare sound.
Not judging sounds as being good or bad.
Simply being open to whatever you're hearing.
And if there is not much to hear,
Being aware of the sound of silence.
Listening to the sound of silence.
Not judging sounds as being good or bad.
Not judging sounds as being good or bad.
Now leaving sounds in the background and starting to deliberately paying attention to the sinking mind.
What thoughts are moving through the mind right now?
Being aware of thoughts without judging them.
Understanding that the job of the mind is to think,
So it thinks about all kind of things.
Observing trivial thoughts as they come and go.
Or thoughts about the past,
Remembering things.
Thoughts about the future,
Planning thoughts.
Being aware of thoughts without getting lost in them.
Letting them come and go.
Seeing that thoughts have a life of their own.
We do not try to not have any thoughts,
But we want to be aware of thoughts as they occur without getting lost in them all the time.
Not judging sounds as being good or bad.
Not judging sounds as being good or bad.
Not judging sounds as being good or bad.
At times it might be helpful to make a gentle note in the back of the mind saying thinking,
Thinking.
To highlight that thinking is happening as a natural part of our experience.
It is a habit of the mind to be easily distracted by memories and thoughts of all kind.
Just as a child might gently open the hand to let go of a string attached to a helium balloon,
So we can also let go of thoughts,
Stories,
Memories and fantasies.
Not judging sounds as being good or bad.
Now leaving thoughts in the background and becoming aware if a specific mood is part of the experience.
Some thoughts might come along with an emotion or an emotion all of a sudden appears as if out of the blue.
It can be a pleasant emotion like a sense of happiness or joy or gratitude.
It can be an unpleasant emotion like sadness or anxiousness or a sorrow could appear or a worry.
Observing whatever emotion might be part of your experience right now.
And being aware if it resonates somewhere in the body.
Kindly observing it,
Letting it be,
Not making it bigger or smaller than it is but acknowledging it as part of this moment's experience.
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Staying connected to or coming back to the breathing if an emotion is particularly strong or overwhelming.
Kindly,
Gently breathing with it.
And now for some time let's just sit,
Keeping the breaths lightly in mind and being present for whatever appears in the field of awareness.
Aware of what is most predominant in this moment to moment experience without holding on to anything specific.
Sensations are appearing and disappearing,
Thoughts coming and going,
Maybe sounds or emotions arising and passing.
And you're just kindly and patiently observing this experience.
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Being aware of the ever-changing nature of your experience.
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We can always return to the simplicity of breathing.
Breathing in,
Being aware of the in-breath,
Breathing out,
Being aware of the out-breath.
Calmly being with each breath as it appears and disappears,
Comes and goes like waves at the shore of the ocean.
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Now,
Coming to the end of this sitting meditation,
Being aware again of the whole of the body sitting here.
The posture,
Being aware of where you are.
And maybe having a sense of gratitude for having taken this time to be with yourself in this intimate way,
For reconnecting with being.
Being aware.
And then moving with a renewed sense of appreciation for yourself into the next activities.
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