The Practice Of Mindfulness & Poetry - 6 Min Daily Insight

Hi and welcome to The Daily Insight.

My name is Hugh Byrne and I'm a meditation teacher here on Insight Timer.

This meditation is a meditation on poetry and mindfulness.

I believe poetry can help us drop out of the thoughts and stories of our minds and come more fully into the present.

It can also provide us material for deep reflection and contemplation.

Take some moments to relax,

Sitting comfortably,

And bring awareness to the sensations of your body.

Feel your body wherever you are right now.

Contact with a chair or the cushion,

Whatever's beneath you.

Contact of your feet with the floor.

Just settling in and arriving.

You might let your breath deepen and take two or three,

Four long breaths.

A deep,

Slow in-breath and a long,

Deep out-breath.

Inviting a letting go of any tension in your body and mind as you breathe out.

And you could invite a smile or a half-smile to your face.

Perhaps bringing the image of a loved one or dear friend to your mind.

Letting the smile relax the mind and body.

Helping create a feeling of ease.

Open with kindness and acceptance to whatever you're experiencing.

This feeling,

This sound,

This emotion,

This thought.

Letting it come,

Letting it be,

And letting it go.

This is from Mary Oliver.

Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness.

It took me years to understand that this too was a gift.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

Letting your attention rest gently on your breath.

In-breath,

Out-breath.

And letting your attention come back gently and kindly to the body,

To the breath when the mind moves into thought.

Finding peace in this moment just as it is.

These words from Dorothy Hunt.

Peace is this moment without judgment.

This moment in the heart space where everything that is is welcome.

Breathing in.

Know that you're breathing in.

Breathing out.

Know that you're breathing out.

This breath,

This moment.

And finishing the meditation with this poem by Raina Maria Rilke.

I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.

I may not complete this last one,

But I give myself to it.

I circle around God,

Around the primordial tower.

I've been circling for thousands of years and I still don't know.

Am I a falcon,

A storm,

Or a great song?

I'm a falcon,

A storm,

A storm.

I'm a falcon,

A storm,

A storm.