Mindfulness - A Complete Guided Practice

Basic Awareness Practice.

Bringing it all together.

Start by taking a moment to settle and relax before you begin.

Find a comfortable sitting position and listen to what the body needs,

Shifting position to be comfortable and balanced if necessary.

Begin by bringing attention to the body in relation to the space it's in.

Sensing the room and any objects around you.

And now shift the attention to the entire body as it sits here.

You Move the attention to the breathing process in the whole body.

Breathing naturally,

Leaving the breath to find its own rhythm.

And come back to the sensation of the entire body.

You Bring to mind your reasons for doing this,

Bringing it all together,

Basic awareness practice.

What's motivating and inspiring you to engage with this process of inner development?

You You And finally wish yourself success in this process.

You This practice is to help you build basic awareness by practicing awareness of the breath in the body.

It will help you to train the mind in greater awareness in order to make better choices and help you develop a sustained enhanced focused and right attention.

It will also encourage you to question your life and open up to possibilities of change and fulfillment helping you build a picture of what your potential might be what may be helping you develop that potential and what may be limiting you at the moment.

As you've been practicing basic awareness you have been focusing on different aspects of your experience.

You began training your mind to be able to hold the two types of attention focused and broad.

You looked at using different types or modes of attention to either observe the breath in the body or to calm the breath in order to calm the body and mind.

You looked at some techniques to help you let go of distractions and agitation and deal with lethargy and dullness in your basic awareness practice.

You attempted to detect strong emotions the moment they arise noticing whether you experienced these initial instances as thoughts emotions or physical sensations.

You tried to recognize feeling tone the subjective evaluation of any experience on a spectrum of pleasant to unpleasant with a neutral midpoint as it arises and become aware that feeling tone is not fixed but it changes over time.

You looked at the difference between distraction and rumination and practice some decoupling techniques to put distance between yourself and ruminations or obsessive thoughts revolving around I me and mine.

The three techniques you explored are noticing naming and labeling.

The first technique noticing is simply to be mindful of when you experience thoughts emotions or physical sensations as I me or mine and then bring your attention back to your chosen object of attention.

The second technique naming is to replace I with your name for example I am uncomfortable becomes Roz is uncomfortable.

The third technique labeling is to label what is arising as separate from you for example I am irritated becomes there is irritation.

You also try to recognize intention as the compulsion or drive behind all of your actions be they mental verbal or physical.

In the following basic awareness practice simply do the practice as it is holding an awareness of these different areas of focus likely.

Taking time to find a comfortable sitting position with the back straight and not too tense.

Letting the head tilt slightly forward and resting it comfortably at the top of the spine.

Keeping the eyes either open or closed and changing that during the practice depending on what feels right.

If you have your eyes open resting the gaze in front without focusing on anything in particular and relaxing the muscles around the eyes and the jaw tucking the chin in slightly and adjusting to what the body needs during the practice shifting that position to be comfortable.

So taking some time now to take three deep breaths.

So now becoming aware of any disturbing attitudes in the mind any worries or frustrations and putting them aside for the duration of the practice as much as you can.

Ask yourself why you are doing this practice the benefits of doing it and the disadvantages of not doing it and who might benefit from you doing this practice.

Now bring the attention to the natural breath in the body taking a moment to realize that before you started this practice the body was breathing automatically without you being aware of that.

And now focus your attention on this natural breathing of the body as it breathes automatically without changing it in any way.

Be aware that the breath is noticeable at the navel area through the movement of the diaphragm and taking a moment to notice the feeling tone present in the body and whether it's positive negative or neutral.

Holding your attention on the body as it breathes as it breathes in and as it breathes out.

And noticing the quality of the breath whether it's fast or slow,

Shallow or deep,

Whatever it might be.

Become aware of the length of the breath as it enters and leaves the body.

Not trying to change the length of the breath but just being aware of how short or long the breath is.

Simply observing the breath in the body and the sensations of the breath as it goes in and out of the body.

And if the mind becomes distracted let the distractions or agitation release on an out breath bringing the attention back to the breath in the body.

You you Keeping this gentle breathing of the body in the background bring your attention to the sensations of the air at the nostrils or the upper lip making this the main focus of attention.

Keeping the sensations of the air at the nostrils or the upper lip in the foreground and still holding the body breathing in the background.

Noticing how the sensations of the air at the nostrils or upper lip feels on the in and the out breath.

And not trying to change anything just focusing on the specific sensations at the nostrils or the upper lip and having an awareness of the body breathing in the background.

And if you find yourself ruminating experiencing the sticky nature of I,

Me or mine try to replace I with your name or label what is arising or just notice when you are experiencing the I,

Me or mine.

You you And relaxing the process of breathing allowing the breath to be easy and natural.

Letting go of any tension in the body allowing it to calm and soften and noticing any intention or compulsion to move in any way.

Relaxing the mind if it feels tight letting go of concentrating too hard.

Using your awareness to recognize when the breath the body or the mind needs to be calmed.

And notice how your attention can be used to observe or modify using the attention to observe the breath in the body or at the nostrils and to modify by calming the breath the body and the mind.

You you And now broaden your attention to encompass the natural breathing of the whole body again as it breathes automatically in and out.

And if any strong emotions are arising notice if you are experiencing these as thoughts or emotions or physical sensations you you and finally releasing your attention from the breath and bringing your attention back to the room.

What was the practice for you?

What did you notice?

Did you notice the body or the mind needed to be calm during the practice?

If you did,

Did you change the mode of attention from merely observing to intentionally calming the body and mind through calming the breath?

Did you notice any distractions or agitation?

And if you did,

Were you able to let go of them?

Did you experience any strong positive or negative emotions during the practice?

If you did,

Were you able to identify them first as a thought or as an emotion or in the body?

And were you aware of feeling tone,

Pleasant,

Unpleasant or neutral,

And whether it changed at all?

Were you aware of the stickiness of the I,

Me or mine of any rumination?

And were you able to use one of the decoupling techniques of noticing,

Naming or labeling?

Were you able to bring awareness to any intention or compulsion to act?

And finally,

Does this practice help you gain greater awareness of your whole self and what you are?

And remember,

We are using the image of the spiral to show how certain personal qualities build on and reinforce each other in an upward spiral towards positive potential,

A positive reinforcement spiral.

Likewise,

Certain personal qualities also build on and reinforce each other in a downward spiral,

A negative reinforcement spiral.

So using your learning from the previous practice on bringing it all together,

Simply note whether this may be helping you develop towards the top of the spiral or if it may be limiting you towards the bottom.

Finally,

Take a moment to reconnect with your posture,

Rebalancing,

Relaxing and gently releasing any tension if necessary.

Becoming aware of the body breathing Taking a moment to recall your motivation for doing this practice and bring to mind what you've experienced and learned in this practice.

Have you discovered anything about yourself?

Have you begun to cultivate any helpful qualities or overcome or let go of any unhelpful qualities?

How might this process be beneficial and meaningful and contribute to the welfare and well-being of yourself and others,

Your family and friends and those close to you,

Those who inspire and nurture your positive development and all living beings and the environment they rely on?

And as this practice ends,

Try to carry this with you wherever you go,

By recollecting it occasionally.