Hello again,
This is Stiramanas at the London Buddhist Centre and today's meditation is going to be about building up mindfulness.
So we're going to build up our awareness through first of all becoming aware of your body,
Using that as a basis to become more aware of the Vedas,
The feeling tone of your experience.
And on top of that,
Then becoming aware of your mind in the meditation.
So take a moment to get yourself ready to meditate and then we'll begin.
So starting by letting your weight drop down into the seat and the crown of your head.
Easily lifting up.
So that you're upright and alert.
And alert,
But relaxed.
And bringing awareness to the sensation of your feet on the floor.
And all the points at which you make contact with the seat or the floor where your weight is held.
The solidity of your body as it rests on these surfaces.
Bringing your awareness up your legs.
Your hands,
Your calves and shins.
Your knees.
And your thighs and buttocks.
And you might notice if you're holding or holding on at all with the muscles in your legs.
And you can bring your awareness up.
Into your belly.
All the sensations of this lower part of your body.
Around your belly,
Your lower back.
From the sensations of your clothes on your skin.
All the way into the centre of your body.
And noticing any sensations in your hands.
Temperature.
Contact.
And your arms and your shoulders.
Just a bit more.
And noticing sensations in your chest.
Around your heart.
Any tightness.
Or any warmth.
Not trying to change anything,
Just becoming aware.
Taking an interest.
And your neck,
Your throat.
And any sensations in your face,
Your head.
The skin across your face as it makes contact with the air.
You might notice what expression you're holding on your face.
And just see if you can let that go.
And expanding your awareness to the whole of your body.
This experience of having a body.
If your mind goes off,
Just bring it back.
Stretching it out to include an awareness of your whole body.
Now we'll turn our awareness to the feeling tone of our experience.
Experience of Vedana.
Have sensations that are either pleasant or unpleasant.
Or somewhere in between.
So we'll start just by bringing your awareness into some pleasant sensations in your body.
It might be the warmth in your hands.
Or the air in your face.
Or the solidity of your weight on the seat.
Just getting up closer.
And experiencing those pleasant sensations.
Not trying to get more of it,
Just experiencing it as it is.
As it comes and goes.
And now becoming aware of some unpleasant sensation in your body.
Maybe part of your neck or your back is tight.
Or you have some ache in some joint.
Whatever it is,
Just drawing your awareness close to that unpleasant sensation.
Really examining it,
Really getting interested.
You might notice if you're trying to stop it being like that or push it away.
You can just stop doing that.
Just experiencing it as it is.
And now bringing your awareness to some neutral sensation.
Somewhere that doesn't feel particularly one thing or another.
Just really becoming curious in what you can feel.
And expanding your awareness.
Again to fill the space of your whole body.
With all the different feeling tones in the body.
This play of pleasant,
Unpleasant and more neutral feeling in your whole body.
Your overall felt experience.
From this basis,
See if you can notice what your state of mind is like.
Without thinking about it.
How are you doing?
Are you in a particular mood?
You might notice by tuning into the feelings in your body.
Those feeling tones might reveal if you're feeling a little bit buzzy or a bit low.
How are you experiencing the world through your mind right now?
Just noticing if there's anything in your experience that's being ignored.
Or that you're leaving out.
Just bringing it into awareness.
And just sitting for a few moments longer.
And just letting go of any effort that you're making at all.
Just sitting in awareness.
And just being aware of what you're feeling.
