Mindfulness of sounds and thoughts aware of the breath as it moves in and as it moves out of the body feeling the sensation of slight stretching in the abdomen as the breath comes in the sense of gentle release as it goes out and aware of the body as a whole feeling the sensations of touch or pressure where your body is in contact with the floor or whatever you are sitting on aware of the sensations in the hands and shoulders whatever is here and gently attending to the feel of sensations throughout the body from one moment to the next so aware of the breath and aware of the body and now allowing the focus of your awareness to shift from sensations in the body to hearing bringing your attention to your sense of sound and allowing that awareness to open and expand just being receptive to sounds as they arise and there is no need here to go searching for sounds or listening out for particular sounds instead as best you can simply opening your mind to be receptive to sounds from all directions becoming aware of obvious sounds and more subtle sounds aware of the space between sounds aware of silence and just being aware here of sounds as sounds and noticing the tendency we all have to interpret sounds to attach stories and meanings to them and becoming aware as best you can of their sensory qualities their changing pitch,
Their loudness,
Their rhythm and duration and whenever you notice that your awareness is no longer focused on sounds in the moment just acknowledging where your mind has moved to and re-tuning your awareness back to sounds as they arise and pass away from one moment to the next sounds arise,
They remain for a time and they pass away and now when it's right for you,
Letting go of awareness of sounds and instead beginning to let thoughts become centre stage and in the same way that sounds are something that we experience in our minds so too are thoughts,
Experiences in the mind and just as sounds arise,
Remain for a while and then pass away so too thoughts arise,
Develop and pass away and there is no need here to make thoughts come and go just letting them arise naturally as they will and if there seem to be no thoughts,
Just letting that be as it is a bit like clouds in the sky,
Thoughts arise they drift through the sky and pass away again and clouds may be dark and stormy or light and airy but however they are,
Just letting them arise and pass and you may find other analogies helpful here you might see your thoughts like the carriages of a railway train passing through a station but it's not your train and you don't have to get onto it you can just be content to watch it go by and if you find yourself swept onto the train by some magical means you can always conjure a station and just get off or maybe your thoughts are just like leaves on a stream while you are sitting on the bank watching and if any thoughts come to you with intense feelings pleasant or unpleasant,
Just as best you can noticing their emotional charge and intensity and letting them be as they are and if you find yourself in a situation where you are just letting them arise and pass by and you can just see their emotional charge and intensity and letting them be as they are and if your mind becomes unfocused and scattered gets completely drawn into the drama of your thinking and imaginings before going back to watching thoughts just letting thoughts arise,
Linger and pass and let them be as they are and if you find yourself in a situation where you are just letting them be as they are and if you find yourself in a situation where you are just letting them be as they are and if you find yourself in a situation where you are
