Go ahead and find a comfortable seat to begin.
We do want to do this session seated with a long straight spine,
Not lying down,
Not slouching or slumping in your chair.
And if you need to,
To feel more comfortable,
Sit against the back of your chair or up against a wall is fine too.
Your hips might be slightly lifted above your knees,
Just so your muscles can relax.
And so the elevation,
The lifting of the spine feels effortless,
Comfortable.
You'll close your eyes whenever you're ready,
Softening your palms down onto your lap in any position you like,
And feel your head balancing right on top.
With your attention,
You might notice your seat,
Your sits bones below as part of your spine,
Your tailbone,
And the pressure that it's creating in your chair,
On your cushion,
On your block.
And then follow that with your attention all the way up to the top back of the head.
One long line.
Any other tension in the body,
Just becoming aware of it and noticing if any of it starts to melt away,
Starts to ease up and release as you become aware of it.
Go ahead and move your attention around the body if you find any areas where you're holding anything that feels uncomfortable,
Tight,
Tense,
Or even painful.
See if you can rest your attention there momentarily and just allow a change to happen,
Allow the shift.
Now let's begin to notice the breath.
All other sensations are allowed to melt away.
Just notice your breath moving in and out.
Notice the sensations on the tip of the nostrils,
Inside the nostrils,
Back deep inside the nostrils,
Towards the uppermost part of the throat.
Can you feel the air moving across,
That slight friction?
Can you notice that sensation of the air traveling down further?
Middle throat,
Lower throat,
Down into the chest,
Into the lungs.
Can you notice as you inhale the diaphragm muscle moving downwards into the abdomen and the belly beginning to soften?
Just allowing your breath to be natural,
Normal pace,
Whatever pace that is right now for you,
But resting your full attention,
100% of your attention,
Inward as the breath travels in and back out.
If you notice your mind getting distracted by outside sounds or thoughts or sensations in the rest of the body,
Gently guide your attention back just to the sensation of the breath.
Cultivate a sense of interest and curiosity in how this breath feels,
In how it moves.
There's a sense of wonder.
How is this breath coming in and out,
Feeding the body,
Keeping us alive all by itself?
Become aware of the breath and how it's changed since you first placed your attention on it a moment ago.
It may feel exactly the same or it might have become a little more shallow,
A little more deep,
Slower,
Or faster,
Or something else.
Just observing and not judging.
Now as our breath has settled in to its comfortable pace on its own,
And the body has settled and melted into this comfortable erect seat on its own,
We're going to take that full extent of our concentration,
Our full awareness,
Up into the mental space.
Leave the body in its seat.
Leave the breath.
Move all of your awareness into your mind state.
If you want to position your awareness in the skull or deep in the brain,
Or perhaps at the back of the forehead,
You can do that.
You are becoming the observer,
Even more so for this part of the meditation,
Maintaining a detached awareness,
Alert but unattached to what may go by.
As we're watching this space,
This spaciousness,
We may notice things like thoughts,
Internal talk,
Memories.
All of these things are separate from you,
The observer,
Just watching.
The moment you find yourself getting involved or following closely into a story or train of thought,
As soon as you notice it happening,
Remember that you are not that mental activity.
You're just the observer and sink back into your seat,
Just watching.
As we move along through this last 15 minutes or so,
Watching in this way,
It's really important to also try to remain neutral and try not to judge the content of the mind that appears and shows itself.
We're not here to judge,
But we're here to notice.
Notice the subject matter.
Notice any patterns.
Just notice what's there.
And then let it all go,
Relaxing back and simply observing.
Notice the thoughts as your mind wanders,
And as quickly as you can,
Simply bring yourself back.
Slight separation between you,
The real you,
And this mental activity.
A state of curiosity,
A sense of interest,
And even intrigue into what is making up your daily thoughts.
Now,
If you have moments,
Periods of time while you're meditating like this,
Nothing is coming up.
It's just space,
Quiet,
Emptiness,
Darkness.
That's normal too.
Just pay attention to that space.
What is the sensation of that space?
Are there any boundaries?
How far does it extend?
Apply that same curiosity to the stillness and the nothingness that comes.
Same curiosity you would use as you're gazing at thoughts and memories.
Each time the mind wanders,
Just gently bringing yourself back.
Neutral observer,
Still watching,
And starting to perhaps notice if any patterns are appearing.
Are there same types of thoughts popping up?
Does the mental activity feel quick or slow?
Are there long spaces?
Just watching as if a movie was running by in front of you,
Noticing the details,
Noticing the feelings that this mental mind stuff creates in you right now,
But practicing remaining unattached for the last few minutes,
Continuing to watch,
Unconcerned,
Curious,
Gentle awareness.
As we begin to close up this meditation session,
Take a few moments in this same state,
Eyes closed,
Awareness inward,
And just reflect on what you experienced.
How did you find the mind's activity today?
How did you find your own reactions to that mental activity today?
And how do you feel right now after practicing this meditation?
Begin now to shift your awareness back towards your breath.
Your next inhale,
Moving your awareness down with the breath in,
And back up and out,
Noticing those sensations of air,
How the air moves the physical body,
How it interacts,
Perhaps noticing your heart rate and how that's affected by your breath.
Now imagine you could take a slow,
Deep breath all the way down to the base of your spine,
All the way down to your seat.
Breathe down to your seat and let it out.
Twice more,
Breathe all the way down to the base of the spine,
Feeling your seat in the chair.
Then let your breath return to natural,
And your eyelids will begin to flutter open very slowly.
So you're letting just a little bit of light in at a time,
Finding yourself back in your space,
More aware of the body,
The breath,
And much more aware of the patterns of the mind that are most active right now.
As you practice a meditation like this regularly,
You'll start to see more and more patterns,
Common themes,
Times of day when certain mental activities are more active,
Times when we feel less attached and less grasping towards these mental activities.
And then you can begin,
Once you know your patterns,
You can begin to reshape them,
Pay more attention to the things that you really do want to create for yourself.
As much of these mental activities,
Patterns,
Memories,
Thoughts,
Self-talk,
So much of it is not needed by us anymore.
It's simply a habit,
A mental habit.
So with practice,
We're taking that habit apart,
Exploring it,
Looking into it,
So that we can reconstruct our mental awareness,
We can mindscape a new reality and focus on what we want to create in our lives every day.
