The Basics Of Mindful Meditation

Returning to the basics can be really useful for those of us that are new to meditation and new to mindfulness to those of us who are put off by the words meditation and mindfulness but could do with a break from the constant chatter in our heads and returning to the basics can also be useful for those of us who've been meditating for a while who haven't established practice but just want to return to some of the fundamentals with gentleness so I'd like to start by saying that this is not a formal lesson this is about sitting,

Being open,

Exploring with gentleness and seeing what happens hopefully you'll learn some useful tools and techniques that will help in everyday life remembering also that all of our minds run away to the past,

The future all of our minds are at times gripped with fear and anxiety,

It's a human condition but there is another way,

Another way that is based on gentleness and practice and I know there's another way and you know there's another way,

That's why we're here in this practice I will start by talking about the position,

The posture that you might like to be in when you sit down and take some time for yourself I'm then going to go through three different gentle techniques that you can use in everyday life and the techniques allow you to come into the present,

To be in the moment which is the foundation of mindful meditation so in terms of posture,

In terms of position many teachers will suggest that you sit down and so that could either be on the floor,

Cross-legged or in a comfortable position or on a chair or the sofa ideally you want to support yourself so you don't want to be fully supported by the back of a chair or the back of a sofa or a wall but we're all different and the most important thing is that you're comfortable so if you do sit down,

Try and keep your back relatively straight and upright so that you're supporting yourself and try and keep the front of your body,

Your chest and your belly open and soft you don't need to hold in your belly and you don't really want tightness in your chest let your belly go and then a really good way to open your chest is to take your shoulders slowly up towards your ears back and then down and that opens up your chest you're upright and there's a firmness to the back and your front is soft and open and ideally you have your feet firmly on the floor or you're cross-legged if that's not comfortable for you,

That's absolutely fine,

You might even prefer to lie down the most important thing is that you're in a position that you're happy to stay in for perhaps 5 to 10 minutes and that the breath is able to flow easily in and out of the body so you're not tight and tense in the chest and the belly spend a few moments now and find a position that works for you great,

You might like to close your eyes or you might like to just adopt a soft gaze,

So just soften your eyes so that you're not looking intently at any one thing,

But that your eyes are relaxed if you're taking a moment to try these techniques in public it probably won't be appropriate for you to close your eyes,

So in that instance you gently soften your eyes but otherwise if it does feel comfortable it can be quite nice to close your eyes for a while and it can help you be in the moment and the first technique we're going to try,

The first basic of mindful meditation is just noticing the breath this is as simple and as magical as noticing yourself breathing you don't have to do anything at all,

The body knows how to breathe you just notice the breath so that might be breath coming in and out at the nose perhaps breath coming in and out at the mouth or perhaps the rise and fall of the belly it might help to place a hand gently on your belly and sense the rise and fall of the hand so take a few moments now and just notice your own breath moving in and out of your body keep it really simple,

Gently noticing not trying to change anything noticing the in-breath and the out-breath and that is the first basic of mindful meditation just noticing the breath and you can do this anywhere at any time it just helps you arrive in the here and now and move out of your head,

Out of the virtual reality,

Past,

Future and into the moment and it's so healthy and the second technique is noticing how the body feels so just gently asking yourself how does my body feel right now and just seeing what comes up,

Just seeing what you feel how does your head feel,

Your throat,

Your shoulders,

Your chest moving down the body and just seeing how you feel and you might feel nothing at all you might feel tightness,

Tension,

Relaxation,

Tingling,

Throbbing,

Warmth,

Coolness whatever it is just notice and spend a few moments now just noticing how the different parts of your body feel how they feel right now,

Being curious,

Gently curious not trying to change anything,

Simply noticing how you feel how does your left big toe feel,

How does your belly feel and as simple as that,

That is the second basic principle of mindful meditation you can stop,

Sit down,

Lie down and just ask yourself how does my body feel right now and that brings you into the present,

Into the here and now and the third basic principle is just allowing yourself to feel the weight of your body and the points of contact between yourself and the surface that you are resting on so it might be feeling your feet on the floor it might be feeling your bum and the backs of your legs against a chair whatever you are resting on,

Just sense it,

Allow yourself to feel supported notice all the points of contact between your body and the surface you are resting on and allow yourself to feel supported and grounded and that is the third basic principle just like the first two,

Noticing the breath as it moves in and out of the body and noticing how the body feels noticing the body against the surface that it is resting on is a really great way to come out of your head and into the present moment and over time and with practice,

You just practice staying with the here and now and bringing your mind back to the here and now,

Whichever basic principle you choose you can do it absolutely anywhere so you have now been meditating for 12 minutes congratulations,

You have noticed your breath you have connected with your body and how it feels and you have noticed your body against the surface that you are resting on and you have allowed yourself to feel grounded and you now know that you can do a couple of these techniques or choose one,

The one that you prefer,

That resonates with you most strongly you can use these techniques anytime,

Anywhere but if you do have the time to spend by yourself and you'd like to sit down it's useful to have a strong,

Straight spine that's supporting yourself and a soft belly and an open chest and you know that if you move your shoulders up,

Back and down that can really help to open up the chest so we've really expanded your toolkit today and for those that are experienced we've reminded ourselves of the basics and how useful and simple and gentle they are so may you be well and just gently,

When you're ready you can come back to the space around you open your eyes,

Get back on with your day and come back to this practice whenever you'd like to be reminded of the basics take care