Welcome,
And I hope that each one of you will come to find peace within yourself.
I am honored that you have elected to spend this time with me today.
Time is our most valuable and precious resource,
And taking time to meditate and be mindful is always a good use of our time.
Having meditated for all these many years,
I've gained some interesting perspectives into the process of meditation and into myself,
And I'd like to share some of those thoughts with you today.
Everything you need to find peace within yourself,
You already have.
It's all there inside you.
You don't really need to study ancient texts or memorize passages of Sanskrit.
You don't have to twist yourself like a pretzel.
All you really need to do is breathe and practice,
And still your busy mind and practice,
And take time to love yourself and practice,
And let go of negative thoughts and practice.
Thoughts are a part of us,
But we can learn to have some control over them,
And with practice,
It's possible to get very good at toning down our busy mind.
So often,
It's thoughts about the future that cause us anxiety,
And thoughts about the past that cause us to be sad or depressed.
We need to let go of these thoughts.
Thoughts about the past and thoughts about the future do not serve us.
We cannot change the past,
And the future is just a construct of our mind.
Author and philosopher Alan Watts once said,
We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time,
In which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between a causative past and an absorbingly important future.
We have no present.
Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation.
We do not realize that there never was,
Is,
Nor will be any other experience than the present experience.
We are therefore out of touch with reality.
Now think about that.
We said that we are preoccupied with memory and expectation.
We drag up and dredge up our memories of the past and mull those things over.
And while we aren't doing that,
We think expectantly about the future,
About things that might happen,
About things that could happen.
And in doing these things,
We miss out on so much.
We miss out on experiencing the majority of the only thing that's real,
Which is the present moment.
Close your eyes now and let's begin to relax.
It doesn't matter if you're sitting,
Lying down,
Or standing.
But those who are so inclined can stand on their head if they wish.
The goal is simply to connect with our breath.
The goal is to be comfortable in this moment.
That can be laying on your bed or it can be sitting in your favorite recliner.
It can be standing with your back against the wall.
It doesn't really matter.
Just be comfortable and at ease with yourself.
And please be sure to silence all your devices.
This is your time and you don't need to be interrupted by chirps from your phone or computer.
Perhaps go someplace where you won't be disturbed.
Let's scan our body and begin to relax as we settle into this moment.
Just breathe normally and don't force anything.
You need to breathe so that it's comfortable for you.
Just breathe in and then slowly let it out.
Unclench your jaw and relax your face.
Release any tension in your neck or shoulders.
I like to roll my neck around to help loosen it up.
Relax your arms and your hands.
Maybe wiggle your fingers and stretch them.
Let go of any tension that's in your chest or your belly and feel yourself getting heavier with each breath.
Relax your legs and your feet and as you begin to relax,
Let's start to focus on our breath.
Breathe in slowly and then gently exhale.
Notice where you feel the breath as it flows in and flows out.
Perhaps the movement in your chest and belly or perhaps a cool sensation in your nose as the breath flows in.
Listen to the gentle sounds of your breath moving in and moving out,
Flowing like a river of calm,
A river of tranquility.
Continue breathing gently in and gently out.
Our focus is only on our breath.
You're going to have thoughts.
That's just part of being human.
But in this moment,
You can choose to let those thoughts go.
Just let them drift away on the current of your breath.
Some people use a mantra to help with thoughts,
But we'll get to that another time.
For now,
It's just you and your breath and my voice.
Your breath is moving gently in and gently out,
One breath at a time,
One moment at a time.
Your breath is the key to calming your mind,
The key to dealing with frustrations and insecurities,
The key to being happier in your own skin.
I've said this before,
But if you learn anything from me,
I want it to be the idea of taking advantage of all the little pauses in your day.
We all have a little voice in our heads.
It talks to us about what's going on.
It seems sometimes there's a constant play-by-play going on.
And sometimes we have negative thoughts.
We're worried about the future.
What if I don't get that job?
What if I don't get that raise?
What if the stock market crashes?
And on and on.
All things that we have no control over.
And when we create little scenarios in our minds,
Our brain can't tell the difference between what's real and what's not.
And so our body reacts to what seems like an emergency.
It speeds up our heart.
It speeds up our breathing.
It releases hormones and neurochemicals throughout the body.
And so our imaginings can have a very real effect on our body.
And it isn't a good effect.
Meditation isn't about ceasing to think,
But about learning to recognize our own patterns and to gently control our thoughts.
To guide them.
You aren't the talk going on in your head.
You are the one who recognize it and what it is.
It takes time.
And most of all,
It takes practice.
Focus on each breath from beginning to end.
One breath at a time.
And then do it again.
And then do it again.
A person who takes up gymnastics doesn't just jump up on the four inch wide balance beam and dance around and do somersaults and cartwheels.
They start off slow and they repeat each move over and over and over,
Thousands and thousands of times so that they can do the move perfectly most of the time.
Focus on your breath.
Listen to it.
Feel it moving inside you.
Feel it as it comes in through your nose.
Follow it as it moves through your body,
Filling you up.
And then follow it once more as it goes back out.
And now start the whole process over again.
Focus on just breathing one breath at a time.
If you have thoughts,
Just let them pass.
Acknowledge them and let them go.
They have no importance because we are busy breathing just one breath at a time.
I've said this before,
But I feel it needs saying again.
You'll note that I've used the word practice many times in this lesson and here's why.
When most people decide to try mindfulness in meditation,
They tend to look at it like a task,
Something to put on your to-do list or your calendar,
Like Friday.
Get dog food,
Call the dentist,
PTA meeting and meditate.
And what I found is that as long as you look at it as something to be checked off,
It tends to stay as something you just do,
Like taking out the trash on Tuesdays.
If meditation is something you do just once a day or three times a week,
Its true benefits will always elude you.
When everything changed for me was when I made the conscious decision to make meditation an integral part of my life.
How did I do that?
I began taking advantage of all the little pauses in my day.
Time that would normally just be wasted.
And we all have so many of these times like this throughout our day.
I would get in touch with my breath when I first wake up,
Sitting in the doctor's office or waiting in the car for my daughter to come out of the store,
While sitting on hold for tech support and so many other times throughout the day.
Too many to even count no matter how busy you think you are.
And I found that when you break meditation out of a certain room and a certain position and a certain time and a certain pose,
It can start to permeate your life.
You begin to relax more and see it as something that's a part of you,
Not a task,
But a part of you like breathing.
The Buddha said,
You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.
So I had to keep becoming the path by inviting mindfulness into your whole life,
Not just once a day,
Taking advantage of all those pauses in your day.
If meditation once a day can be beneficial,
Getting in touch with your breath multiple times a day.
What astound you the differences it can make.
I found that in sickness and in health,
My river of calm has transported me and I've found peace within myself.
And you can too.
Now as we come to a close,
Take one long deep breath through your nose and exhale through your mouth,
Letting out a sigh.
Open your eyes and come back into the room.
Stretch and be ready to resume your day.
You can conquer your busy mind.
The key way is through breathing and through practice.
I hope this has been a beneficial and calming session and thank you again for spending this time with me.
Till next time.
I'll see you next time.
