Hello!
Welcome!
It's great to see you.
Tonight's meditation practice will be about 20 minutes and today we'll be practicing letting our thoughts come and go.
If we haven't met before,
My name is Amber.
I'm the founder of a virtual meditation studio where I teach people how to manage their stress and anxiety with mindfulness and meditation.
So whenever you're ready,
Come to a comfortable seated position and on your own time you might close the eyes and begin to settle in here to today's practice.
And as usual,
It sometimes helps to start with a few deep breaths and letting the flow of air drift in and out.
And we're just taking a moment right at the beginning to let your mind catch up with your body.
You're here right now.
And right away we'll start to bring our awareness to how it is with you right now.
How is the quality of the mind today?
Just noticing with a gentle,
Curious attitude,
How does the mind feel?
You might notice if it feels quite busy,
Crowded with thoughts.
If that's the case,
Perhaps you could sense that there's tasks or projects all working to get your attention.
That's okay.
That's normal.
You might also notice if it's quiet,
If there are spaces in between each thought.
Bringing your kind,
Gentle awareness to that as well.
And for the next few minutes,
We'll practice observing And for the next few minutes,
We'll practice observing whatever thoughts are here,
Allowing them to come and go,
Doing our best to watch them pass by without getting tangled up in them.
And as a support,
You might find it helpful to keep your attention on the breath,
Taking a few inhales and exhales,
Using the breath as a place to rest your attention.
And whenever the mind wanders and starts getting tangled up in thought,
You know that you can always come back to following the cycle of your inhales and your exhales.
And becoming aware of our thoughts doesn't mean blocking them or stopping them from happening.
As you've probably experienced,
The more we try to suppress our thoughts,
Oftentimes the more persistent they become.
So rather than trying to resist or eliminate any thoughts,
See if you can allow them to be present.
Notice that they're here,
Perhaps labeling the kind of thought that they are.
Perhaps it's a worrying thought,
A daydreaming thought,
Planning.
And then with a lot of patience and without judgment,
Allowing the thought to pass through.
If you can notice that process of letting it go,
If you can notice that process of letting it go,
Knowing that the moment you notice your mind wandering away is another opportunity to become present.
Another opportunity to practice coming back to the breath,
Coming back to observing your thoughts as they come and as they go.
And for a few moments here,
Without applying any extra effort,
Can you simply let yourself be open,
Observing,
Open to whatever sensations arise,
Open to whatever thoughts decide to pop in,
Noticing what happens when you're open and curious about your moment-to-moment experience,
However it is.
Taking in,
Once again,
With the quality of the mind,
Taking its temperature,
Noticing how it feels.
Maybe there's a greater sense of awareness,
Greater sense of clarity,
Perhaps a little bit more space in the mind.
And if not,
That's okay too.
That doesn't mean that you did anything wrong,
That your practice was bad.
All that matters is that you showed up.
And taking a moment to return one last time to the breath,
Perhaps allowing yourself the deepest breath of the day,
Perhaps bringing with it a sense of release,
Feeling of grounding back into your body.
And whenever you're ready,
Shifting the attention from your thoughts into the rest of your body,
Allowing the tongue to wake up in the mouth,
Maybe giving the body a nice stretch,
Perhaps rolling out the neck side to side,
Perhaps rolling the shoulders if that feels good.
And on your own time,
Letting the eyes open again and take as much time as you need to come on back.
I hope you have a wonderful week and I'll see you very soon.
