Hello and welcome to this mindfulness meditation.
My name's Alex and I'm your guide today.
Our thoughts and emotions are a large part of who we are and how we operate but they're not the sum total of who we are.
They're influenced by habits and memories and senses and so our practice today focuses on sensory awareness as a way to quiet those racing thoughts and churning emotions in those moments when we really need to just take a beat.
So find a comfortable seated position on a chair,
Maybe on the floor with your back against a wall or supported.
I'm sitting on a block underneath my sitz bones and just let your body feel heavy for a moment as you let the ground or the seat beneath you support you.
And then wherever you are in your breath cycle,
Empty your air,
Take a breath in through your nose and as you breathe in,
Pull your shoulders up towards your ears so you're taking a big shrug here and squeeze your shoulders towards your ears as far as you can.
Take one more sip of air and as you sigh out through an open mouth just let your shoulders melt down the back of your body away from your ears,
Create a little more space in the sides of your neck and let your body sink a little further toward the earth.
Eyes can be open for this meditation and as we move through the various parts feel free to close them but we'll start with our eyes open and just let your breath be easy and comfortable,
Maybe a little slower than usual.
Let's take a few rounds of breath here and then without moving your head allow yourself to see five things around you.
Maybe you're taking in just parts of objects but notice colors and shapes as well as particular objects and as you see those things name them for yourself either out loud or in your head just acknowledging their presence,
The existence of what you can see in front of you.
Keep breathing easy and slow in and out through your nose.
You can keep your eyes open if that feels comfortable today or maybe soften your gaze on something in front of you or close them completely if that feels good and gently bring your awareness to the sensation of touch,
What you can feel on the surface of your body,
The physical contact of various parts of your body with the chair or the ground beneath you.
Perhaps noticing the sensation of touch of the fabric that you're wearing and the different kinds of fabric that you're wearing,
Noticing the different sensation of those textures on your skin.
Perhaps noticing jewelry that you're wearing,
The connection between the surface of that jewelry with the surface of your skin.
Perhaps becoming aware of anything else that your body might be physically feeling,
Touching,
Sensing and naming those things for yourself either out loud or inside your head quietly acknowledging those sensations of touch.
And once you have noticed the sensation of touch points between parts of your physical body and what's supporting it,
What you're wearing,
Allow your attention to gently shift to smells in your space and noticing any smell in your immediate environment.
And if you can smell anything perhaps what comes to mind is a memory of a smell that you like and love and enjoy.
Acknowledging that memory or immediate sensation of smell and naming it for yourself either out loud or quietly inside.
Gently drawing your focus down to something you can taste and again this taste might be immediate perhaps leftover food in your mouth or the taste of leftover food in your mouth or toothpaste,
The taste of your breath or the memory of something you like to taste.
Just noticing and acknowledging and naming that taste for yourself.
And then gently draw your focus to our last sense,
The sense of sound and maybe picking up sounds just in your immediate space.
Maybe a little under the radar further away from your immediate space or maybe beginning to notice the sound of your own breathing,
The sound of breath in your own body.
Whatever you're noticing,
Naming it for yourself either out loud or quietly in your head.
And if you haven't tuned into the sound of your own breath in your body,
Seeing if you can tune in there now for these last few moments of our practice.
As you breathe quietly in and out through your nose,
Noticing and acknowledging and savouring the richness of our sensory awareness.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
There are just three more rounds of breath,
Acknowledging,
Savouring senses.
What we see,
What we touch,
What we smell,
What we taste and what we hear.
A place to return to in those moments when thoughts are racing and feelings are churning.
Wherever you are in your breath cycle,
Empty out all your air.
Take one more breath in through your nose,
Filling up,
Breathing in.
When you get to the top of your inhale,
Take one more sip and then sigh out through an open mouth.
Take a few more moments here if you have time to savour before you move on to whatever comes next.
And go gently.
