To start this meditation,
Find a comfortable sitting posture for yourself,
Either on a chair or on a meditation cushion.
If you're on a chair,
Placing the feet flat on the floor with the legs uncrossed,
The hands resting comfortably either on your lap or on your thighs.
Finding a posture that reflects stability and dignity and that allows you to be awake,
Alert and present.
Allowing the shoulders to relax,
Softening the muscles of the face,
Relaxing the jaw and keeping the eyes gently closed.
And once you've settled into the meditation posture,
You can start this practice by bringing the attention to the breath,
To the fact that we're breathing,
Noticing the flow of air as it moves into and out of the body,
Experiencing each cycle of the breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in,
Knowing you're breathing in and breathing out,
Knowing you're breathing out.
There's no need to change or manipulate the breath in any way,
Simply allowing each breath to be as it is in this moment.
Breathing in and breathing out.
You may find that you feel the breath more prominently in a specific area,
Perhaps the chest and the abdomen moving,
Expanding and contracting.
And perhaps you feel the breath more prominently at the level of the nostrils,
Noticing the cold air going in through the nose during the in-breath and then the slightly warmer air coming out through the nose during the out-breath.
And choosing the area where you feel the breath more prominently and keeping the attention in that area.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
By now you probably noticed that the mind has wandered away from the breath.
You find yourself caught up in a story,
Thinking,
A dialogue,
Thinking about what happened earlier today or worrying about the future.
The mind wanders,
That's what the mind does.
So every time you notice that the mind has wandered away from the breath,
Simply bring the attention back to the breath,
Back to this moment.
As you breathe in and breathe out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Sitting in stillness,
Aware of the breath.
Moment by moment by moment.
And if the mind wanders away again,
Which it will inevitably do,
Simply notice that.
Simply notice how the mind went into thinking.
Then with kindness towards yourself,
Without judging yourself,
Simply bring the attention from thinking back to the breath,
Back to this moment.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing out.
And now expanding our awareness and shifting the attention from the breath and bringing the attention to the body.
Noticing how the body feels,
Noticing the space around the body and noticing any physical sensations that may be arising as we sit here.
Some tingling or itching,
Pressure,
Discomfort,
Just simply noticing that without judging any of those physical sensations,
Without wanting it to be different.
Simply accepting and allowing.
Aware of the entire body as a whole and observing any physical sensations and making those sensations the object or of attention.
And if the mind wanders away,
With kindness,
Just bring the attention back to the body.
Watching the cool air on our face,
On our skin,
Pressure on our back,
On our shoulders,
On our clothes,
On our skin,
Or perhaps no sensations at all,
And that's okay too.
We can scan the body for those sensations starting with the forehead,
The face.
What are we feeling in this moment?
The air on our face,
Perhaps itching,
Bringing our full awareness to the area of the face,
The nose,
The cheeks,
The mouth.
Simply noticing,
Observing,
Being present.
And moving the attention down to the neck and the shoulders.
Noticing the physical sensations there,
Tension,
Pressure,
Discomfort.
And without judging,
Just simply noticing that being with that sensation,
Allowing it to be there,
Being fully present.
Then we can notice the weight of the arms resting on our sides,
Our elbows,
The hands,
The fingers.
Noticing perhaps any moisture in the palm of our hands,
The entire arms.
Just observing.
And then moving the attention to the chest and the abdomen,
Moving and expanding with each breath.
Noticing the back,
The lower back,
Noticing any pressure or tension.
Fully aware of this moment.
Aware of our body in this moment.
Noticing the pressure where we're sitting,
Noticing the legs,
The feet,
The toes.
Noticing where the feet make contact with the floor.
Just noticing that.
And then moving the attention again to include the entire body as a whole.
As you can see,
The upper back is Jersey gray.
And as this meditation comes to an end,
Take the time to congratulate yourself for the effort put in being fully present during this practice.
You can wish yourself well for that effort.
You can do this simply by repeating silently the following words.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I be free from suffering.
Drop in those words gently into your heart.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I be free from suffering.
May I be well.
May I be well.
