Hello,
Thanks for joining me today.
This is a short guided meditation.
Take the next few moments to make yourself comfortable.
That might mean that you find a seated position or if you prefer you could lay down onto your back.
Feel free to use props,
Cushions,
Pillows to support yourself whether that is in your seat with a block or a cushion beneath your hips.
Maybe if you're laying down a gentle pillow underneath your head or a blanket.
Once you're comfortable either choose to close your eyes completely or focus your gaze to the floor in front of you.
Bring your awareness to the feeling of your body.
This might be the first time today that you have found a moment of stillness.
Or shift your awareness to the crown of your head.
Begin to scan down your body towards your fingertips and your toes.
Notice if you feel any differences in sensation.
You might feel differences in temperature,
Differences in pressure,
Or feelings of tingling.
These are all okay feelings.
We just want to bring our awareness towards them.
Now I'd like you to repeat that scan starting at the crown of your head and working down towards your limbs.
And notice now if there are any parts of you that are still gripping or holding that don't need to be.
Can you bring a little bit of space between your top and bottom teeth?
Can you allow your shoulders to gently soften away from your ears?
Can you allow your belly to move more freely with each breath?
Maybe you soften any gripping through your hips.
Relax the bottoms of your feet.
And allow your whole body to experience just a feeling of relaxation.
Shift now your awareness towards your breath.
With your breath in,
Can you feel the breath moving in through your nose,
Down into your lungs so that your belly,
Your ribcage,
They expand.
With the breath out,
Trace the breath back up and out through your nostrils.
You can continue like that as you breathe in,
Visualize the breath moving in through your nostrils,
Down into your lungs,
Creating a feeling of expansion through your belly and your ribcage.
Then reverse that and follow the breath out all the way from your belly up through your ribcage,
Out to your nostrils.
Take a few more breaths just like that.
Let's go.
Allow your breath to stay soft,
Gentle,
Hopefully effortless.
And now bring your awareness towards your ability to hear.
Bring your awareness to the most distant sound that you can hear in this moment,
The sounds that are furthest away from you.
Progressively start to listen for sounds that are closer to you.
Maybe it is the sound of your own breath.
Maybe even the sound of your own heartbeat.
Keeping your focus on the sounds that are around you.
Just simply notice the impermanence of each sound.
You have no control over how long the sound lasts.
As you pay attention,
You'll feel and you'll hear sounds appearing in consciousness.
Just as they appear,
They also disappear.
They come and go and you can barely hold on to the sound for even just an instant longer than it lasts.
Set that sound and go.
.
.
Your mind becomes distracted.
I encourage you to again revisit what sounds can you hear in this moment.
Or in this moment.
Just allow each sound to come and go.
Try to resist wanting to hold on to it.
And simply acknowledge the impermanence.
Try to remember what sounds can be heard in this moment.
And for these last few moments in this meditation,
Just release any effort.
Let go of trying to hear.
For these last few breaths,
Can you just be?
Let go yourself.
And take a slow breath in through your nose.
Maybe you open your mouth and you sigh out.
Do that again.
Slow breath in through your nose.
Feel your belly expand,
Your rib cage expand.
And as you exhale,
Let it all go.
One last round.
Breathe in.
There's no rush.
Maybe you sigh on that exhale.
And simply take a moment to thank yourself for making the time to find stillness and find a sense of focus.
Meditation is an opportunity for us to train our brain,
Just like we train our physical body.
We can train our brain to focus a little bit more.
Just in these last few minutes of us practicing together,
You're starting to cultivate a little bit more focus for your own mind.
I hope that that can stick with you for a little bit longer throughout your day today.
Enjoy.
