This mindfulness practice is your breathing anchor practice,
A meditation where you root your awareness into the present moment,
Like an anchor that roots a ship to one place.
This practice may help you dissolve anxiety,
Decrease stress,
And allow the body and mind to experience peace and relaxation.
So to begin,
Adopt as comfortable a position as possible.
It's often best to be sitting,
But you can do this meditation in any posture,
Standing,
Lying,
Sitting,
Or even walking.
My guidance will assume you're sitting,
But adapt the instructions to your chosen posture.
Sitting with your back upright,
Get relaxed with your spine following its natural curves.
See if you can establish a position that feels dignified,
Alert,
And yet relaxed,
And allow your body to settle,
To rest down into gravity,
Letting the floor support it beneath you,
And gently close your eyes if that's comfortable.
This will help your awareness to settle by lessening external distractions.
Gradually allow your awareness to gather around the sensations of the breath in your body,
Where do you feel the breath most strongly?
Be curious about your actual experience,
Let go of what you think should be happening,
And be with your experience without judgment.
Now very gently rest your awareness within the whole torso,
Can you feel your belly swelling on the in-breath and subsiding on the out-breath?
Can you feel any movement and sensations of the breath in the sides and the back of the body as well?
Gradually inhabit your body a little more deeply,
With a sense of kind curiosity towards whatever you're experiencing as you breathe.
Remember to be accepting of whatever's happening,
Holding your experience with gentle awareness as it is.
See if you can cultivate a precise awareness of the sensations and movement of the breath in the body as they happen,
Moment by moment,
Being careful not to strain.
Allow your awareness to be utterly receptive as it rests upon the natural movement of the breath in the body.
Allow the breath to be saturated with kindness as it rocks and cradles the body,
Soothing any stress,
Pain,
Or discomfort you may feel.
Now become aware of any thoughts and emotions.
Remember that mindfulness isn't about having a blank mind,
It's normal to think.
Mindfulness is the training whereby you cultivate awareness of what is actually happening,
Physically,
Mentally,
And emotionally.
With increased awareness,
You can gradually change your perspective and feel you have more choice in how you relate to life.
See if you can look at your thoughts and emotions rather than being your thoughts and emotions.
Can you be aware of what you're thinking and feeling without either blocking the experience or getting overwhelmed by it?
And then anchor your awareness back in your breath.
Use awareness of the movement and sensations of the breath in your body as an anchor for the mind over and over and over again.
As thoughts arise,
Know that they are not facts,
Even though we often think that they are.
As you develop perspective on your thoughts and emotions,
Including undermining ones,
Can you let go of being so caught up in them?
Notice how they're continually changing from one moment to the next,
Exactly the same way your breath is always changing.
Your thoughts and emotions are not as fixed or as solid as you perhaps thought.
And come back to your breath.
Follow the breath all the way in and all the way out.
Each time your awareness wanders,
As it will,
Simply note this and return to the breathing anchor,
Time after time,
Moment by moment,
Making sure you're very kind and patient with yourself,
Even if you have to start again a hundred times.
Starting over and coming back is perfectly okay.
This is what the training is all about.
And remember that each time you notice you've wandered is a magic moment of awareness,
A moment where you've woken up from a distraction,
A moment of choice.
So when you catch yourself wandering off,
You're succeeding in the practice,
Just as you're succeeding when you manage to stay with the breath,
Even if just for a moment.
What's happening now?
What are you thinking?
Just note this without analyzing or latching on,
And guide your awareness back to the sensation of the breath in the body,
Over and over again.
And now gently begin to bring the breathing anchor practice to a close,
Opening your eyes slowly,
And in your own time,
And become aware of the sounds around you,
Inside and outside the room.
Feel your whole body,
And gradually,
Gently,
Begin to move,
Making sure you give yourself time to make a smooth transition from the breathing anchor practice to whatever you're doing next.
