Befriending The Mind

Welcome to your guided meditation practice.

Take a comfortable seated position.

Rest your hands wherever they naturally fall.

Gently close your eyes or soften your gaze.

Together,

Let's take three deep,

Slow breaths to establish ourselves in the here and now.

Deep breath in.

Slow breath out.

Feeling the sensations of your exhalation.

Deep.

Slow.

Relaxing.

Deep.

Slow.

Releasing any tension.

Let your breath resume its natural flow.

And feel the contact between your body and the floor.

Whether through the soles of your feet or your legs.

Feeling supported by the earth.

Now I invite you to give your fullest attention to your breath at the nostrils.

Simply notice the breath as it enters the nostrils,

Passes through,

And leaves.

Simply watch the air going in and out of your nostrils while noting different sensations.

You may notice that the air feels slightly cooler when you inhale and slightly warmer when you exhale.

Is your breathing fast or slow?

Shallow or deep?

Smooth or choppy?

Noting any sensation.

Notice the transition when an inhale becomes an exhale and an exhale becomes an inhale.

That little pause at the top of your breath and at the bottom.

Allow yourself to slow down.

To soften.

To feel your body.

To feel your breath.

To feel this moment.

Allowing everything to be as it is.

We can't stop our minds from thinking but we can slow down the racing thoughts and change our relationship with them.

So how is your mind?

Busy?

Calm?

Scattered?

Focused?

As you continue to focus on your breath,

Notice thoughts arising.

Bring a gentle,

Friendly,

Curious attention to those thoughts,

The content of your mind.

Simply recognize,

Oh it's a thought.

And gently let it go.

Don't make up a story.

You can also label them.

An angry thought,

A fearful thought,

A fantasy thought,

A happy thought.

It will help you to create a bit of distance between you and thoughts.

So it will be easier to let go.

Imagine your mind is the sky and your thoughts are clouds passing through.

Clouds exist in the sky but they don't become the sky.

Watch them floating away.

You remain that vast,

Open sky that holds them.

When you notice you have been lost in thoughts,

Pause and gently come back to this moment.

Feel your body sitting and breathing.

Every thought arises,

Stays a moment,

And ceases again.

Another thought comes without an invitation or reason.

Thought after thought after thought.

They are very impermanent.

You can't get rid of them.

You are learning to witness your thoughts.

By becoming more aware of your thinking mind you will be able to change your relationship with your thoughts and learn to use your mind as a tool to navigate life.