Hi everyone,
My name is Nadine.
Welcome to this brief meditation on letting go of distractions.
So one of the many benefits of meditations is that it tends to enhance our ability to focus our attention,
To concentrate and to let go of distractions.
So that's what this meditation is about today.
So we are practicing our ability how we can let go of distractions and how we can retract that energy,
That scattered energy back to ourselves.
So we're focusing it on our breath today.
Retreating,
Retracting the energy back to us that tends to get very scattered in our daily lives.
Across a lot of things we have to do or think so we can sometimes feel a little unfocused,
Ungrounded,
Unsettled.
Alright so you can either be seated for this meditation or you can lay down,
It's up to you.
If you're seated make sure you can find a seat that allows you to sit upright for about 10 minutes.
So make sure your pelvis is not rocking back and you're rounding into your lower back.
So if you do you might want to sit up on something,
Maybe a pillow or blankets or you sit on a chair or on your sofa or your bed.
Or you can also lean into a wall,
So having your back towards a wall or the back of your chair so that you don't get distracted by not being able to sit upright.
Okay alright so when you're ready find your comfortable seat or position on your back and then just allow your eyes to close.
Just notice where your attention goes as you close your eyes.
As you turn your gaze inward.
Right are you going to a certain thought or to a body part or to a to do or whatever it is there is no good or bad or right or wrong.
Just notice where your attention goes that's where your energy flows.
And then you're going to gently land your attention on your breath.
And you'll take a deep inhale through your nose fill up your lungs and then exhale out the mouth side out.
Two more times deep inhale through the nose filling up the lungs and then with the exhale see if you can let go of something that is distracting you right now something that's holding your attention.
And then one more time deep inhale through the nose and then exhale see if you can become a little more present.
Right now this moment in time with yourself with your breath letting go of whatever happened a few moments ago and of whatever is going to happen after this.
So you can be fully present with yourself.
And then just let your breath return to a natural easy rhythm in and out of your nose.
Just allowing your body to breathe on its own without any effort.
And just notice where your breath is most predominant right now.
Where do you feel it the most at the moment?
Maybe it's in your throat or your nose maybe the chest or the belly the ribs.
There's no right or wrong good or bad.
Just notice what it is for you.
Where is your breath right now?
And then land your attention there.
Very soft gentle focus on that area feeling the sensation the feeling of the breath.
And it is a very gentle light soft focus.
So we're not very rigidly very harshly trying to focus on the breath right.
It's a very light focus.
I always like the image of a butterfly landing on a flower.
That's how you want to land your attention on your breath.
And as you're following the feeling of your breath,
You can just make a mental note to yourself.
That's the breath.
I'm breathing in and I'm breathing out.
Nothing else to do.
And then if there are any thoughts coming up that are strong enough to take your attention away,
Just simply recognize see the thoughts and then let them go.
Mentally noting to yourself not breath and come back to your breath.
So they're simply breath or not breath.
Whatever arises for you.
You'll just notice it.
You recognize it as breath or not breath and you'll return back to your breath.
You can imagine your thoughts like clouds that are moving across the sky.
Some of them look very soft,
Light,
Fluffy,
Tempting inviting.
And others might look a little more dark,
Maybe a little scary or threatening.
And it doesn't matter.
It's not the breath.
You just let them pass and come back to your breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
That's all that matters right now.
Maybe there are some sounds around you that try to get your attention.
Now our habitual tendency is to try to name or label the sound,
Judge the sound if you like it or not.
So instead of doing that,
Just notice that that's not the breath and come back to your breath.
Without pushing anything away,
You're letting anything come up and arise.
Recognize it,
Not breath and let it go.
Returning to your breath.
Notice if any tension has started to build up in your face.
Making sure you let your whole face relax,
Forehead,
Eyebrows,
The jaw.
You're breathing in and you're breathing out.
Noticing,
Feeling your breath in your body.
Maybe create some movement in the body.
Just notice that you're feeling that feeling of the breath.
And then very slowly start to take some deeper,
More deliberate,
More conscious breath again.
Deep,
Deep inhale and maybe a sigh out the mouth or yawn,
Whatever you need.
Just gently bringing your awareness back into your body by breathing a little deeper.
And then let that breath invite some gentle movements into the toes,
Fingertips.
Start to wiggle toes and fingers to bring some life back into your hands and your feet.
And then maybe you want to take a full body stretch,
Arms overhead or any gentle slow movements your body needs to slowly wake up again.
And then when you're ready just slowly allow your eyes to open back up or lift your gaze.
Taking in your surrounding again.
And then take your hands to the heart and just take a moment to give yourself thanks for showing up today,
For practicing today,
For checking in and slowing down and breathe for a moment.
Then I wish you a wonderful rest of your day.
I hope that was helpful and you feel a little more focused,
A little more settled and grounded.
And I hope I'll see you next time.
Bye.
