Now,
Let us do a core daily practice of mindfulness meditation and mind-body-heart awareness.
Thank yourself for prioritizing this time today to just be here.
Consider it the most important thing you can do for yourself each and every day.
And here you are.
First,
Find a posture where you can sit with relative ease,
Grounded and stable,
Comfortable and alert.
It could be a chair,
A cushion,
Or even lying down if needed.
And if it becomes uncomfortable,
After noticing the discomfort for some time with compassion,
It's okay to readjust.
Just do so mindfully and with ease.
And if you haven't done so already,
Gently close your eyes.
Take a few deep breaths to let go and become more fully present.
For these first three long,
Clearing breaths,
Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Relax any obvious tensions that you've noticed as you return to your natural breathing rhythm,
In through the nose and out through the nose.
Let the eyes and face be soft.
Loosen the jaw.
Relax your shoulders and let your arms and hands rest easily wherever they fall.
Let the belly be soft and notice the breath rising and falling with each inhale and exhale.
And let the heart be soft and open to receive whatever arises with a spirit of kindness and compassion.
And now feel yourself seated at rest.
Notice where your body is connecting with the earth.
Perhaps feet on the floor,
Hands on the legs.
And with this embodied presence,
Establish full mindful awareness just here and just now.
As you will notice,
There are many things that will come into awareness.
Waves of sounds and thoughts,
Sensations and feelings.
Just steady your awareness and calm your mind underneath all these waves.
Feel the gentle wave of the breath.
Sense it in the nostrils,
Swirling,
Tingling at the back of the throat,
Or the rise and fall of the chest,
Or the belly,
Or your whole body.
You can even place your hand on your belly and feel its rise and fall in the palm of your hands.
Rise with the inhale,
Fall with the exhale.
Let the breath have its own rhythms.
Relax.
And after this,
If it still feels controlled,
Let it be just as it is.
And as you feel each breath,
Let all the other experiences rise and fall like waves of the ocean around the breathing.
Stay with this awareness of breath,
Returning to it gently with compassion,
As your thoughts will inevitably return as we lose awareness of the breath.
This is normal.
This is why we may smile upon noticing our thoughts,
Sometimes even chuckle,
As we remind ourselves that we too are human.
So when the attention wanders,
Gently return to the breath.
That's all you need to do.
Notice and return.
We will stay with the breath for several minutes before we open up to the other dimensions of mindfulness and include them in this sitting.
Breathing in through the nose and out through the nose.
Feel the belly rise with the inhale,
Fall with the exhale.
Breathing gently,
Even if it's a hundred times,
The very practice of coming back begins to train the mind and the body to be fully here,
Fully present.
It's a practice,
And here you are,
Practicing with compassion.
Feeling the breath in,
Feeling the breath out.
Breathing in through the nose and out through the nose.
And now,
As you stay mindful of your breathing,
You will have no doubt noticed that after a few breaths,
Regularly,
A background wave of experience will become strong and pull your attention away.
When this happens,
Let go of the attention to the breath and receive this wave of strong experience with the same kind of attention as if to greet it or bow to it.
You can name it gently.
If it's sensations in the body,
You can name it tingling,
Tingling,
Or itching,
Or pain,
Throbbing.
If it's sounds,
You can gently name them,
Hearing,
Hearing.
If it's feelings or emotions,
You can name them excitement,
Excitement,
Or sad,
Sad,
Or anxious,
Or fear,
Or joy.
The experience is merely an emotion,
A temporary experience.
And when the attention is pulled to thoughts,
You can name them gently,
Planning,
Planning,
Or imagining,
Remembering,
Remembering,
Judging.
You'll notice that as you acknowledge the thoughts,
They dissolve like fog or clouds under the sunlight of awareness.
And as each strong wave of experience is acknowledged,
Let yourself feel it in the body and the mind,
And let it subside as it will or come to peace.
And then rest in the stillness itself and the vastness of being.
After the thought,
After the feeling,
This is an important moment to sense yourself,
Return to stillness,
And then gently return back to feel several more breaths in your center.
Stay just here in the reality of the present with this breath or these experiences as they arise met with a gracious and kind attention.
This breath or this moment's experience alternating awareness of the breathing itself,
The space of stillness,
Or just the acknowledgement of the waves that arise met with kind attention.
Keep it simple.
Stay here,
Just here and now.
This breath,
This moment.
You can invite the sense of presence to deepen,
Calm and steady with this breath or with this experience met with loving awareness.
Present,
Relaxed,
Coming back to this moment again and again.
Establishing and trusting the sense of presence and kind attention.
Keep it simple.
This breath or whatever is present acknowledged with a smile or a bow.
This breath or whatever is present,
This moment,
This breath or this moment,
This moment,
This breath or this sense of fairness.
This breath or this moment,
This moment,
This one.
And for the last few minutes of this sitting,
Bring in deliberately even more loving-kindness so that with each breath and each mindfully received experience,
Your whole body and being is held in love.
You are the light.
You are the light.
You are the light.
You are the light.
You are the light.
You are the light.
