Hello,
And welcome to The Daily Insight.
My name is Julian Lacay,
A teacher here on Insight Timer.
In today's meditation,
We'll be practicing grounding our attention in the present moment,
So that we can more fully engage with life around us.
To begin,
Finding a place where you can feel safe,
And where you won't be interrupted for the next 10 minutes.
And settling your body in a comfortable position.
If you're experiencing a difficulty right now,
You can use this meditation to stay grounded until it passes on its own.
If you're not experiencing a difficulty,
You can still use this meditation to more fully bring your attention into the present moment.
You can begin by bringing your attention to your thoughts,
And noticing what kind of mental activities happening right now in the mind.
And bringing your attention to your body,
And noticing what you're feeling right now.
What emotions are here?
And notice where they're showing up in your body,
And how you're feeling them as physical sensations.
Paying close attention to what you can feel physically in your body.
Now,
Becoming aware of breathing by shifting your attention down into the belly region.
Perhaps putting your hand on your abdomen,
And noticing the rising and the falling movements.
Silently noting to yourself,
Breathing in on the in-breath.
And breathing out on the out-breath.
Staying with the sensations of breathing in the abdomen for a few more moments.
And now,
Shifting your attention to sounds arriving at your ears.
They may originate from near or far.
Notice two or three things that you can hear.
Allowing the ears to receive the different layers of sounds that unfold from moment to moment.
And bringing your attention back to your mind,
And noticing the thoughts that are here.
And then,
Notice the sounds that are here.
And notice the sounds that are here.
And bringing your attention back to your mind,
And noticing the thoughts that are here.
Notice that these thoughts are simply mental events that are appearing,
Changing,
And disappearing in awareness.
And shifting your attention to the body,
And noticing the emotions and sensations that are here now.
Notice how they're different than before.
Maybe you're noticing slight differences,
Or maybe more obvious ones.
Maybe you're noticing feeling better,
Relatively the same,
Or maybe even worse.
Just acknowledging the thoughts and feelings that are flowing through the mind and the body from moment to moment,
Without struggling to make them different than how they are right now.
Now bringing your attention back to the sensations of breathing at the abdomen.
And also maybe noticing breathing in the chest and the nostrils.
And see if you can include these sensations of breathing with the other thoughts and feelings that are here right now.
Just breathing with them.
See if you can be aware of your mind and body as a whole,
Being fully alive with thoughts and feelings constantly flowing through.
Notice there's a conscious human being here that can notice all these changing thoughts and feelings,
And that can also control some of what this body can do.
You can choose to move your body in various ways.
Try it out.
Wiggle your toes and your fingers.
Notice you have control over that.
Lengthen your spine.
Stretch your shoulders,
Arms,
And neck.
Notice you can choose to put your hand on your belly or over your heart,
And you can vary the pressure.
Notice that you can slow down and deepen your breathing if you choose to.
Open your eyes if they're closed and look around.
Notice what you can see.
Look closely at an object.
And another one.
And broaden your vision and take in all that you can see.
Notice that in the presence of these thoughts and feelings,
You are free to choose your actions,
What you can do with your attention and your body.
And finally,
Take a moment to consider what is truly important to you.
What's your experience telling you about what would be important for you to do right now?
And as this meditation comes to an end,
Reflecting on the following question.
As a thinking,
Feeling,
And breathing whole human being,
What do I choose to do in the next moment to nourish myself and engage more fully with what truly matters to me?
Wishing you well.
