Inner Silence Meditation

Getting yourself prepared for the practice of antamona or inner silence meditation.

Perhaps sitting upright with an erect spine or perhaps sitting in a seat or laying down is completely fine.

And of course the invitation is to close the eyes down if that feels comfortable for you.

If it doesn't you're more than welcome to leave your eyes open and just focus on a point in the room.

But if it's good for you to close the eyes down,

Please do so.

I think it really helps you to shut out the outside world and just go inward for a little bit.

And when it feels right for you just becoming aware of your breath.

Just noticing the fact that you're breathing.

Noticing the air as it enters the nostrils.

Noticing how it travels into the lungs and expands the lungs.

Into the belly and expands the belly.

Noticing how it feels when you exhale.

Exiting the nostrils.

Staying with that.

Staying with the breath.

Following the breath on its journey.

In and out.

Just noticing.

Just witnessing.

Noticing how the belly expands with the breath on the inhale.

And how it contracts as the diaphragm pushes the air back up out of the lungs.

Noticing the subtle movements of the body with the breath.

We're just going to pick up a couple of sets of box breath breathing.

And so with the box breath we want to inhale for four through the nose.

Hold for four.

Exhale for four.

And hold for four.

So I'll take you through that.

So wherever you are in your breath cycle now just letting go of the breath.

Breathing in.

And breathing in.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Hold.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Exhale.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Hold.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Inhale.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Hold.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Exhale.

Two.

Three.

Four.

And hold.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Inhale.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Hold.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Exhale.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Three.

Four.

And hold.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Inhale.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Hold.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Exhale.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Hold.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Just letting go of the count now.

We're just keeping the breath long and steady,

Slow and steady.

And now just tuning into sensations on the skin.

Noticing sensations or feelings on the skin.

You may notice feeling of the warm air or a cool breeze.

Perhaps feeling the points of contact of your body on the floor or in the seat.

You may feel where your legs are crossed,

Where your feet land on the floor.

Touch of clothing.

A touch of air hitting the nostrils.

All awareness of the sensation of touch.

Noticing the skin.

And then taking your awareness to sounds.

Perhaps directing your awareness outside.

And just noticing any sounds you can hear outside.

The sounds of the evening.

Noticing sounds,

Moving from one sound to the next sound.

Hearing one sound,

Letting go of that sound,

Hearing another sound.

Without judgment or any annoyance.

Without any story.

Just hearing the sounds as though you're hearing them for the first time.

Then bringing the awareness closer to more personal sounds.

Becoming aware of the sounds of your own body.

Maybe it's hearing a ringing in your ears,

Your heart beating.

Or seeing if you can hear your breath in your own nostrils.

Really becoming aware and focused on the sound of your breath.

And just following it as it moves through your body.

Now we're going to move our attention to thought.

I'm not trying to let go of any thoughts,

In fact we want to allow thoughts to be present.

So without controlling your attention,

Just noticing what arises in the mind.

Just observe anything that comes into your field of attention.

Perhaps from outside.

Or any thoughts that pop up.

Just follow the thoughts.

Follow the thought where it wants to go.

Maybe that thought leads on to another thought.

Just as you let the breaths flow,

Let your thoughts flow also.

Just letting them arise and float away.

Maybe you'll remember something.

Maybe thinking about the future,

Or this meditation.

Just allowing them to arise.

What we want to do is just be the witness to the thoughts.

Without any judgement.

We want to welcome all thoughts in.

Even if they feel a little unpleasant,

Or like you shouldn't be having those thoughts.

We don't want to fall into that trap of trying to seek peace or peace of mind.

Or that trap of trying to seek peace or try to remove any discomfort.

We want to stay neutral.

Stay silent.

And stay a gentle witness to the thoughts that are arising.

Now just seeing if you can direct your awareness once again just to sounds.

Sounds within the room.

So we're letting go of thoughts now.

And back to sounds in the room.

Noticing what you can hear.

Perhaps noticing the sound of your breath.

Noticing sensations in the skin.

So just noticing sensations of touch and sound.

Then we're going to take our attention back to thought.

And take our attention back to the day today.

And just see if you can remember the first thing you did this morning when you woke up.

Play that movie again in your mind.

Without judgment.

Just remembering what you did when you woke up this morning.

How did you feel?

How did your body feel?

What did you say to yourself?

What's the first action you took?

Again without any judgment.

Then maybe perhaps remembering what you had for breakfast this morning.

What did you eat for breakfast this morning?

How did it taste?

What state were you in when you prepared your breakfast this morning?

What state were you in when you ate it?

Thinking about breakfast.

Where were you when you were having your breakfast this morning?

If you didn't eat,

Perhaps it was a drink that you had this morning.

Then we're going to take the mind back a little further.

And remembering what you had for dinner last night.

What did you have to eat for dinner last night?

Where were you?

Who were you with?

What did you eat?

Who prepared the meal?

What did you have?

Just thinking about how you felt when you were having your meal last night.

What state you were in.

And how it felt to be there having that meal.

And then gently guide your awareness back to your breath for a moment.

And becoming aware of your breath as it travels in through the nostrils,

To the lungs,

To the belly.

Letting go of the thoughts.

And just now being completely with your breath.

You had those thoughts and now I've let them go.

And we're returning to the breath.

With all the attention focused on the breath.

The sound of the breath.

The feeling of the breath.

And then we're going to return to thought.

And we're going to cast your mind further back.

And I want to see if you can remember a place in childhood where you felt happy.

It might be,

Or just a memory in childhood where you felt happy.

Where were you?

Who were you with?

What were you doing?

Even if you can remember the weather.

Just noticing what you can remember about that time in childhood where you felt happy.

If you can't go back that far,

If that's not available.

Just remembering a time when you felt happy.

When you felt real joy.

And how that joy fills in your body.

And playing that movie like it's a screen,

There's a screen in your mind.

Playing that movie of that time you were happy.

And what's it like to be there.

And then again,

Perhaps maybe from childhood,

But remembering someone that you really loved.

Someone you really,

Really loved.

And what did they look like?

And getting a vision of that person and how it would feel to see that person.

That person you really loved.

It might be a teacher,

A neighbor,

A parent,

A pet.

Someone you loved and what it felt like to be around that person that you loved.

Noticing how that feels in the body.

And just letting that thought go.

Letting that thought evaporate.

And going back to the breath.

Noticing the breath.

Hearing the breath.

Feeling that breath in the body.

Noticing what it's like to let go of the thought and just return to the breath.

And then perhaps returning to thoughts.

Again to that place in the mind where you play your thoughts.

And remembering what you did when you got home from work today.

Or perhaps around 5 o'clock this evening.

What were you doing?

What was it like?

What were you wearing?

How did it feel?

How did you feel?

What state were you in?

And letting that thought go.

And again returning to the breath.

Now we want to see if we can take our awareness to the place behind the closed eyes.

This place behind the closed eyes is called the sky of the mind.

Sitting in the sky of the mind.

Seeing if we can be there without thought,

With an empty screen.

Seeing if we can almost imagine looking out to the horizon.

And even beyond the horizon.

See if we can have just a moment of complete silence.

If the thoughts come in,

You can return to the breath.

And seeing if you can return to the sky of the mind.

No pressure,

No judgement.

See what it's like if the thoughts come,

To notice them and just let them go.

And returning to that space behind the closed eyes.

With a blank screen.

Beyond the horizon.

Silence.

And returning to the breath.

Perhaps becoming aware of the body.

Body sensations.

Becoming aware of your body as it sits in the room and the posture that you're in right now.

Full awareness of your body and coming back into this moment.

Noticing how your body feels.

Perhaps wiggling the toes.

Rolling the shoulders and wiggling the fingers.

Knowing that this meditation is coming to a close.

And that you just gave yourself that beautiful time of space,

Awareness,

Spaciousness within the mind.

And thanking yourself for showing up for the practice.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.