Hi.
This is Michelle.
Thanks for joining me for this guided concentration meditation using the breath as the focal point,
The anchor.
During this practice,
I will offer three scaffolds to aid in sustaining focus on the breath.
You decide whether to use the scaffolds or not,
Remembering that this is your practice.
Now,
Choosing a position that is comfortable,
Relatively easy,
And will support wakefulness.
This might be a seated posture,
Lying down,
Standing.
Whatever shape the body takes,
We're looking for relative balance and ease.
Now,
Noticing that the body is breathing.
Noticing the in-breath and the out-breath.
Inviting awareness to where the breath is most prominent,
Most distinct.
This could be anywhere along the pathway that the breath takes,
Or a sense of the entire body being breathed.
Wherever it is most distinct,
That is your anchor point,
The place to gather the attentedness.
During this practice,
You'll notice sensations.
Perhaps they're internal or external.
They could be physical sensations,
Emotions,
Or other sensations.
And you might notice that sensations tend to be pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral.
We're just allowing,
No need to change or manipulate.
Resting awareness where you feel the breath.
Each time you notice that you've been lost in thought,
That's a moment.
That's a present moment.
When you notice that you've been lost in thought,
Just kindly and gently bring the attention back to your anchor.
One scaffold that you might want to explore involves placing the hand or hands on the chest or abdomen.
Noticing the physical sensation,
The rising of the hand on the inhale and the falling of the hand on the exhale.
Another scaffold that you might want to play around with is thinking the word silently in your head as the inhales and exhales.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Those words can offer a scaffold.
And the final scaffold I'd like to share with you today involves counting.
You would count each inhale and exhale,
Starting at one,
Going to five,
And then starting over at one again.
Okay,
We're going to glide into some more silence.
You choose whether to use a scaffold or not.
Resting in awareness moment by moment,
Breath by breath.
Checking in,
Has the mind wandered into the future or the past?
If so,
Gently bring the attentiveness,
The focus back to your anchor and beginning again.
Breathing in,
Know that you're breathing in.
Breathing out,
Know that you're breathing out.
Breath by breath,
Moment by moment.
Offering yourself the gift of your own attentiveness.
Now as we near the end of this practice,
Begin to expand your awareness from the narrow focus on the anchor to encompass the entire body,
Breathing.
Invite some small movements into the fingers and the toes.
Open the eyes if they have been closed.
Inviting in the visual field around you.
Thanks for practicing with me today.
May you be well.
