MBSR Sitting Meditation Practice

Welcome to the practice of sitting meditation.

Begin by finding a comfortable sitting position,

Either on a chair,

On a suitable cushion on the floor,

Or on a meditation bench.

Sitting in an erect but relaxed posture,

A posture that brings about a sense of wakefulness in the body.

Placing your hands on your knees or together in your lap in a way that feels comfortable to you.

Taking a deep breath in and letting it go.

Relaxing into the posture as best you can.

Giving yourself a moment to settle into a posture where you can sit relatively still throughout the meditation period.

Awake and alert but relaxed.

Now allowing your eyes to gently close and simply becoming aware of your body sitting.

Noticing the sensations of touch and pressure where your body makes contact with the chair or the cushion or the floor.

Relaxing into this posture of sitting.

And when you're ready becoming aware of the fact that you're breathing.

Noticing the breath as it moves in and out of the body.

Experiencing it directly by feeling the belly gently expanding on the in-breath and deflating on the out-breath.

Feeling the expanding and contracting of the ribs in response to the breath.

And noticing the passage of air as it moves in and out of the nostrils.

Riding on the rhythmic waves of breath as they move in and out of the body.

Not trying to manipulate the breath in any way but letting the breath breathe itself easily and smoothly.

Simply knowing when you're breathing in and knowing when you're breathing out.

Taking some time now to explore and becoming curious about where you experience the breath most vividly.

Whether it's the air moving in and out of your nostrils.

The expanding and deflating of the chest and ribs.

Or the belly rising and falling.

Then moving your attention to that place in the body in which to be with the breath.

Staying with the breath at a particular location for an entire practice period instead of jumping around can help bring about a greater sense of stability,

Greater focus and attention,

And a greater intimacy with the breath.

Knowing that each practice period may be different.

So in this sitting placing your attention in this one location in which to observe the breathing process.

Letting the breath be your anchor to the present moment as best you can.

Being present for the full duration of each in-breath and the full duration of each out-breath.

And when the mind wanders from the breath to thoughts,

Sounds,

Feelings,

Or other bodily sensations.

Simply noticing that the mind has wandered and bringing your attention once again to the breath.

Noticing where your mind is now.

Is it on the breath or have thoughts taking you away on a journey into the past or the future.

You might notice planning,

Worrying,

Liking,

Disliking,

Daydreaming,

Impatience,

Boredom,

Or even sleepiness.

This is perfectly normal and not a problem.

It's simply what the mind does.

It's not a mistake or a failure.

It doesn't mean that you can't meditate.

When you notice that your attention is no longer on the breath.

Noticing where your mind wandered off to.

Gently letting go of whatever it is and then escorting your attention back to the breath.

Once again establishing breathing as the center stage of your awareness.

Time and time again your mind will wander.

Being aware of it as soon as you can and gently bringing your awareness back to the breath.

Back to the present.

Back to the moment to moment observing of the flow of your breathing.

Allowing each in-breath to be a new beginning and each out-breath a complete letting go.

Staying relaxed.

Not forcing anything and as best you can staying in touch with the breath from moment to moment.

Breath by breath.

Now maintaining the awareness of your breathing.

Seeing if you can expand your field of awareness to include the body as a whole.

Sitting and breathing.

Noticing how you can change the scope of your attention from being on just the breath to being with the breath and the entire body.

Just like you would change the focus on the lens of a camera.

From being small and focused on one object to taking in a larger landscape.

Being aware of all the sensations associated with being in a body.

The pulsing,

Throbbing,

Tingling sensations of being alive.

And feeling and noticing the sensations associated with the body sitting.

Where the legs and arms are positioned.

How they meet the surfaces that you're sitting on or resting against.

Sitting from moment to moment with this wide spacious open awareness.

Becoming aware of the ever-changing nature of the breath and the body.

Letting the sense of the whole body sitting and breathing be center stage in the field of your awareness.

Sustaining it as best you can.

And when the mind becomes distracted and wanders off.

Recognizing what pulled your attention away.

Becoming aware that you're lost in thought or sound or whatever it is.

And gently bringing the attention back over and over again to this sense of the body as a whole.

Sitting here breathing with no other agenda than to sit here and be present.

From time to time you might experience sensations in the body that are particularly intense.

And if the sensations are highly unpleasant and you find yourself moving away from attending to the body as a whole.

Sitting here breathing.

You might experiment with intentionally bringing your attention right into the region of greatest intensity.

As best you can exploring the detailed pattern of sensations.

Their exact location.

Their precise qualities.

How they do or don't change from moment to moment.

Not thinking about how you're feeling and getting caught in a story about it.

But actually allowing yourself to feel whatever is here to be felt.

You can imagine directing the breath into areas of intensity and breathing out from them.

As best you can responding to the body by opening and softening rather than tensing and resisting.

And when and if the intensity subsides or you feel like you can.

Expanding the attention again to include the awareness of the body as a whole.

Sitting here breathing.

Fully awake.

Fully present.

For each timeless moment of being alive in your body.

If at any point you recognize that you might be doing harm to your body by not moving.

Mindfully shifting to a more comfortable position.

First being aware of your intention to move and then readjusting your position.

Remembering that choosing to move is not bad or good.

But remaining open to the present moment with kindness and compassion.

So that you can hear and acknowledge and act on your inner wisdom.

Now letting go of the body and the breath as the primary focus of your attention.

And letting your sense of hearing move to the center stage of your awareness.

Being open to all of the senses.

Move to the center stage of your awareness.

Being open to all of the sounds that are continually presenting themselves to our ears to be registered and heard simply by opening our attention up to them.

Not labeling sound but directly experiencing sound as near or far.

Soft or loud.

High or low.

Noticing the presence of sound and the spaces between the sounds.

The silence.

Simply sitting and staying present for what is here to be heard from moment to moment.

And when the mind wanders off,

Coming back to the awareness of sound.

And letting sound be your anchor into the present.

Just as the body and breath were.

Sound be your anchor into the present.

Just as the body and breath were.

Noticing if you have any judgments or evaluations about the sounds you're hearing.

Whether there are some you find pleasing and others not.

Whether there are some you wished were louder or you wished were absent altogether.

Noticing and then opening up with pure awareness to whatever sounds are here just as they are.

Without needing them to be different in any way.

Just knowing of sound as it moves through your field of awareness.

From moment to moment.

Sitting with the awareness of sound.

The space between sounds.

Aware of silence.

Moment by moment by moment.

Moment by moment by moment.

Moment by moment by moment.

Moment by moment by moment.

And now when you're ready,

Letting go of hearing and sound as the main focus of your attention.

And bringing your attention to thoughts and letting them be center stage in the field of awareness.

This is not the same as inviting yourself to think as many thoughts as possible.

Or to search for them.

Or have any at all.

But rather to be aware of them when they do arise all on their own.

And recognizing them as thoughts.

With the same quality of attention that you've been bringing to the breath and the body and to sounds.

Treating thoughts just as mental events.

That arise and linger ever so briefly.

And pass away just like sound.

Noticing their various features.

Their content.

Their emotional charge.

Whether they are pleasant.

Unpleasant.

Or neutral.

And rather than getting pulled into the content and storyline of the thoughts.

Simply sitting on the edge of the thought stream.

Noticing each of them as they move along like leaves floating down a stream.

Or clouds as they move across the sky.

And when you do get pulled into the stream of thinking.

Which will inevitably occur from time to time.

Just noticing when this has happened.

And when you are aware of it.

Bringing yourself back and reestablishing your awareness.

And when you are aware of it.

Bringing yourself back and reestablishing yourself on the breath at first.

If that is helpful.

To a place where you can attend to each thought.

Just as a thought.

Not as the truth.

Not as a fact.

But one more feature of yourself.

To be known and acknowledged.

With kindness and acceptance.

And when there are no thoughts.

Simply resting in the simplicity of silence itself.

Letting thoughts arise and fall naturally.

Getting caught.

And then coming back over and over again.

Seeing the familiar patterns of remembering.

Planning.

Worrying.

Regretting.

Obsessing.

Understanding how not to take it all quite so personally.

Being the knowing that is more than thought.

And then coming back over and over again.

If you get lost in thought.

Using the breath whenever and for as long as you need to.

As a way of re-centering yourself.

And then opening up to thoughts.

Whenever it feels right to you.

Being with thoughts and associated feelings.

As if they were weather fronts.

And then coming across the field of awareness.

And then coming back over and over again.

And now when you're ready.

Letting go of thoughts as the main object of attention.

And letting yourself rest in a wide spacious open awareness.

That has no particular object of attention.

Sometimes called choiceless awareness.

Being choicelessly aware and present.

With everything and anything.

As it comes and goes from moment to moment.

If thoughts come,

Observing thoughts.

If sounds,

Observing sounds.

And if it is the breath that is the most predominant.

Being with your breathing.

Resting in an open,

Kind,

Compassionate awareness.

That can hold any aspect of your experience.

Including the most insistent and persistent thoughts.

And deepest fears.

Opening to what is here now to be felt and seen.

Resting in a place of awareness.

That isn't harmed or disturbed by the things that pass through it.

To be felt for a moment and then let go.

And the letting go of everything.

Fencing the freedom from the pull of negativity and habit.

Sitting in stillness.

Looking for nothing.

And being sensitive and present with it all.

Just as it is.

As it unfolds.

Fully open.

Fully aware.

Without getting caught up in the thoughts.

As it is.

As it is.

As it is.

Fully open.

Fully aware.

Without getting caught up in any of it.

No matter what it is at this moment.

Allowing it to arise and pass away from moment to moment.

Breathing and sitting.

And relaxing into this awareness of letting things be.

Exactly as they are.

As this sitting comes to an end.

Acknowledging the time you have spent to be more present for your life.

Coming back home to your senses.

And reconnecting to your intrinsic wholeness and inner wisdom.

Fully embodied and present.

As it is.