I would like you today to practice with me a very simple but also very powerful meditation and we're going to focus on sounds today as I found sounds very interesting.
As an anchor in meditation,
As a tool to complete presence and observation of the present experience.
So I'd like you to start by getting just that little bit more comfortable.
If you're sitting,
Take a moment to adjust how straight your back is.
Notice if you can let go a little bit more in some parts of your body now.
If you're lying down,
Take a moment to notice which points of your body are touching the bed or the floor and how that feels.
And then again,
I would like to invite you to let go a little bit more.
I want you to start by taking three conscious deep breaths in your own time and in your own pace.
And I want you to make sure you're breathing all the air out of the lungs with each exhalation.
You might notice that on each exhalation you start to become more comfortable and quieter and more relaxed.
Then allowing the breath to return to a normal natural rhythm.
And I would like to invite you to start noticing sounds.
Sounds that might be far away,
Sounds that you might notice closer by,
The sounds your own body makes,
My voice,
My words.
And then also understanding that you cannot control those sounds.
They appear when they appear and they're gone when they're gone.
And you are perceiving them just the way they are.
A beautiful softening might be happening in parts of your body.
Some people describe a feeling of sinking deeper when the mind starts to settle,
When we're still,
When we're building this internal focus.
Some people describe it as a feeling of lightness,
Weightlessness,
And whatever it might be that you are experiencing right now,
Understanding that there's no right,
No wrong way of doing this,
Just your way.
It's very common for the brain to start thinking.
It's very common to judge ourselves for doing this wrong,
For not being a good meditator,
For getting distracted.
It's part of meditation.
And as you may already know,
The most powerful thing you can do is to be aware of those thoughts because they come and go just like those sounds.
You can observe them and then they're gone again,
Just like those sounds before.
Just like those sounds,
They just appear and then they disappear.
You don't control them.
So shifting your awareness between the sounds again,
As subtle as they might be,
Or as loud and present they might be,
Two thoughts you might have in this moment.
Just observing with curiosity,
Kindness,
And openness,
Really practicing that non-judgmental attitude.
It is what it is.
And in this moment,
There's nothing else you need to do,
No where else you need to be right now.
Just being here,
Listening to my words,
And allowing yourself to practice a gentle detachment,
The observing part of your brain strengthening itself through this exercise.
And I'll give you a minute now to do this in your own way and to deepen an understanding of what you've just experienced.
And in your own way,
In your own time,
You can gently start to reorient yourself to your day,
Coming slowly back to your day,
Allowing energy to return to hands and feet,
And then whenever you're ready,
Start to gently open your eyes.
