Practice 5.
Mindfulness meditation.
Whole body breathing wherever it shows up.
Come into a comfortable seated posture and allow the eyes to gently close.
Gently Just resting the eyes.
No effort required.
Relax.
Rest your hands in your lap.
You can try one hand rested in the other or just rest them on your lap,
Palms facing up.
Any way you find comfortable is fine.
Now bring your attention to your lower spine and to your pelvis.
Feel grounded here.
This is the position from which your body will be held in a relaxed upright manner.
See if tilting the pelvis ever so slightly forward helps to create a foundation to rest the whole spine upon.
You can rest the whole spine in this posture stacking the bones one on top of the other.
And relax.
Maybe you can't get comfortable.
That's fine.
It can take many years for the posture to mature.
And remember that discomfort is welcome here also.
So no problem if it arises.
We just make it part of the path.
It's just another physical sensation.
We feel it.
We don't run.
Accepting whatever arises,
We grow in equanimity.
Becoming stronger.
Able to weather the storms of life that come and go.
So relax.
And if you can't relax the body,
See if you can be okay with that and relax the mind.
This is a very profound life changing skill that will bear fruits in your daily life.
So here,
Just sitting,
Welcoming everything.
Traffic rumbling by.
Neighbours shouting.
Beautiful birdsong.
My voice speaking to you now.
All just sound.
Coming into being and passing away.
The sound arises from nowhere and disappears into nowhere.
And all the while here we sit.
Undisturbed.
Taking use of whatever shows up.
Making it all welcome.
The same thing happens with a sensation in the body.
An ache arises and passes away.
A pleasurable feeling arises and passes away.
All the same,
Just feelings.
Watch them.
Watch them change.
Watch them leave.
And then arises another.
Over and over again.
And here we sit.
Without preference to either.
We sit undisturbed in the midst of it all.
We can see that the same thing also happens with thoughts.
They arise,
Change and pass away.
And in this body,
Can you notice the breath doing exactly the same as sounds?
As sensations?
As thoughts?
The breath arises.
It changes as it ripples throughout the body.
Then it passes away.
In this practice,
We tune into the breath.
It becomes our anchor.
Keeping the mind stable as mental and physical storms arise to sweep us away.
So feel the breath now,
Wherever it arises.
In this practice,
We don't give any special preference to where we feel the breath.
The whole body is alive.
So the whole breath is the arena in which we watch the breath.
The breathing sensations might start in the abdomen and then spread throughout the whole body.
You might feel it elsewhere.
In this practice,
Every part of the body is included.
It might change locations from breath to breath.
Fine,
That's no problem.
And try to drop any preconceived ideas about the breath.
Rather than just air,
See it as an energetic participation of the whole body in a wonderful flow.
And feel the breath as if for the first time.
Try to remain with the breath for the whole of its duration.
Linking one breath to another like a chain of precious pearls.
Just as all phenomena arise and pass away,
So does our awareness of the breath.
Feeling the breath comes into being and passes away too.
So no judgement when this happens.
It's natural.
That is the nature of everything.
So don't fight with the way things are.
Your awareness of the breath will return.
Be there for it when it does.
Now bring your attention back to hearing.
Sounds come,
Sounds go.
We're starting to bring the practice to a close.
But without throwing away this cultivated mindfulness.
How we transition from seated practice to daily life is very important.
It is wholly ground.
You can,
If you wish,
Move slowly.
And as you do,
Feel the changes that occur.
Tension release,
Pressure changes.
It's all valid.
Allowing the eyes to open.
Staying in your body as they do.
And bring this wonderful feeling that meditation can often bring back with you.
