Begin your practice by congratulating yourself that you're dedicating some precious time to meditation.
May you know that this is an act of love.
As you begin to stop and become present,
Become aware of the body and mind and whatever is being carried within you.
Perhaps,
Feelings or thoughts from the day's events or whatever has been going on within you recently.
Simply allow and acknowledge whatever is within and just let it be without any form of analysis or evaluation.
Gradually,
Shift the focus of awareness to the breath,
Breathing normally and naturally.
As you breathe in,
Be aware of breathing in.
Be aware of breathing out.
Just being aware of breathing and focusing awareness on either the tip of the nose or the abdomen.
If focusing on the tip of the nose,
Feel the touch of the air as you breathe in and out.
If you're not aware of the breath,
You're not aware of the breath or the nose.
If focusing on the tip of the nose,
Feel the touch of the air as you breathe in and out.
If focusing on the abdomen,
Feel the belly expanding with each inhalation and contracting with each exhalation.
Just live life one inhalation and one exhalation at a time.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Watching each breath appear and disappear.
Just breathe in.
Breathing out,
Watching each breath appear and disappear.
Just breathe in,
Breathing out,
Breathing out.
Now,
Gently withdraw awareness from the breath and bring it into the world of sensations in the body.
Observing without any aversion or indulgence,
Just acknowledge the multitude of varying sensations as they change from moment to moment and let them be.
As you sense into the body,
You may find areas of tension and tightness.
If you can allow them to soften and relax,
That's fine.
If not,
Just let it be.
If you're not aware of the surface and you know,
Not in the face,
You're just turned around and you see that As you sense into the body,
You may find areas of tension and tightness.
If you can allow them to soften and relax,
That's fine.
If not,
Just let it be.
If you're unable to soften and relax,
Acknowledge any persisting sensations and give them space to do whatever they need to do.
Simply allow these waves of sensation to flow wherever they need to go.
Now release awareness of sensations and bring attention to hearing,
Observing all sounds without aversion or indulgence.
Be aware of sound at its most basic fundamental level.
Simply sound waves that your body is receiving with its faculty of hearing.
Being aware of sounds at this level,
Just acknowledge the multitude of varying sounds,
External and internal,
Moment to moment.
Whether the sounds are external or internal,
Just notice how they are ever-changing,
Revealing the mark of impermanence.
Sounds rise,
Sounds fall,
Hear them appear and disappear,
Just sounds.
Now gently shift attention from awareness of sounds to the mind,
To thoughts and emotions.
Observe the mind without any aversion or indulgence.
Just acknowledge the multitude of varying mental formations moment to moment,
Like lying in a field and watching the clouds float by.
Watch the mind in the same way.
Think of yourself as a meteorologist,
Just watching internal weather patterns without judgment,
Just being with the way things are.
Thoughts and emotions rise,
Thoughts and emotions fall,
Experiencing them appear and disappear,
Just thoughts and just emotions.
You may become aware that the mind has a mind of its own.
It analyzes,
Scrutinizes,
Plans and remembers.
It catastrophizes,
Compares and contrasts.
It dreams,
Blames and feels sad,
Angry and fearful.
It fantasizes and has likes and dislikes.
The mind is busy thinking about this and that,
With thoughts rising,
Forming and receding.
That's how they appear and disappear,
Noticing them as just thoughts.
As you observe and experience your thoughts and emotions,
Try to avoid falling into them.
Rather than getting caught up in the mind's traps,
Stories and habits,
Simply observe them dispassionately,
Let them be,
And know that they will recede in time.
At times,
You may find yourself caught up in thoughts and feelings,
Perhaps again and again.
When this happens,
Don't judge or berate yourself.
Simply realize that even this awareness is a way of returning to the present moment.
Let your awareness recognize that all of these mental states are fleeting and changing,
Once again revealing impermanence.
Once you become aware that your mind has gotten caught up and lost in thoughts and emotions,
In that very moment you are no longer caught up.
Just continue experiencing the changing nature of mind states.
You can consider your mind to be like a white water river,
Just thoughts and emotions rolling on and on.
If you become frustrated with wandering mind,
It's fine to return to the breath for a short time to center yourself.
Very gently now,
Withdraw awareness from mental events and bring your attention to the present moment itself as the primary object of attention.
This choiceless awareness invites you to become mindful of whatever is arising in the unfolding of each present moment,
In the body and in the mind,
Whether sounds,
Sensations,
Or other sensory experiences,
Or a flurry of thoughts or emotions.
Just sit back and watch the ever shifting tides of mind and body.
Although you may be sitting or lying very still,
Your internal experience is quite different.
Your body and mind combine to form a dynamic organism interacting with stimuli from the senses and the mind,
Stimuli that constantly are changing.
Simply observe whatever is predominant or compelling in the mind and body and be present to it.
If nothing is particularly prevalent and you're unsure of where to focus attention,
You can always go back to the breath or any other object as a way to anchor into the here and now.
This practice is analogous to sitting by the edge of a river,
Just watching whatever goes downstream.
Sometimes there are sounds,
Sometimes sensations,
Sometimes thoughts and emotions.
If nothing much is occurring,
You can always come back to the anchor of the breath.
Sit and witness the sea of change in your mind and body.
As you learn to give space to whatever is arising inside with greater equanimity and balance,
You can begin to go with the flow.
Instead of fighting or resisting what's there,
You'll come to understand and deeply know that all things change.
Even if you're experiencing storms of anxiety,
Pain,
Sadness,
Anger or confusion,
Or perhaps especially at these times,
You will know that by giving these feelings space,
They will gradually diminish.
Now withdraw from choiceless awareness and come back to the breath,
Feeling the whole body as you breathe in and out.
Feel the entire body rising upward on an inhalation and falling downward on an exhalation.
Feel the body as a single,
Complete organism,
Connected and whole.
In a few minutes,
You'll hear the bell ring three times to conclude our practice today.
But before then,
May you again congratulate yourself for practicing this meditation and know that it is contributing to your health and well-being.
May you know that this is an act of love.
Let's repeat.
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