A Sitting Meditation

This is a sitting meditation practice that will last for around 20 minutes.

So coming now to a seated position,

Whether you choose to sit on a cushion or a chair,

Or to use a meditation stool,

Allowing your legs,

Your feet to feel connected with the floor.

Steady.

Stable.

Feeling the natural curve of your spine rising from this steady base.

Lifting towards the ceiling and sky.

The back of your neck,

Lengthening slightly.

And your shoulders dropping.

Really feeling the weight of you going down from your hips to the legs.

The height of you going up in this posture.

Letting your hands rest on your lap.

Letting your posture feel balanced,

Alert.

Seeking to let go of unnecessary tightness anywhere in your body.

Your posture.

Reflecting your attention to be awake here,

Fully present in this moment.

Having the intention to simply be here as best you can.

And if it's okay for you,

Allowing your eyes to close.

It's fine,

Of course,

To have your eyes open.

But if so,

Having a gentle focus about three or four feet just in front of you.

And bringing your awareness now to a sense of yourself sitting here in this place.

Perhaps now hearing sounds in the room.

Perhaps sounds beyond the room.

Sounds within the body.

And receiving all of these sounds without needing to think about them.

Just hearing the tone,

Volume,

Pattern,

Rhythm.

And perhaps taking a moment to acknowledge your presence in this place.

And now,

Directing attention to the breath.

The sound of your breathing.

The sound of the breath moving in and out of the body.

The sensations of the movement of your breath within the body.

Noticing perhaps where it is most vivid for you in this moment.

Perhaps sensing the breath at the tip of the nose,

Maybe in the area of the chest.

Perhaps deep down in the abdomen.

Bringing a friendly,

Gentle curiosity to the experience of this.

This in-breath.

This out-breath.

Just following the in-breath and out-breath as they follow one another.

Moment by moment by moment.

Perhaps noticing sensations in the body.

And sometimes these can be subtle and sometimes not.

Letting whatever your experience is to be just the way it is.

Whatever your experiences of breathing in and breathing out.

Allowing things to be just the way they are.

And if you're able,

Just noticing the full duration of this in-breath.

And the full duration of this out-breath.

No need to change it.

Just exploring your experience of breathing in this moment.

Perhaps noticing the little pause between the in-breath and the beginning of the out-breath.

The moment the out-breath ends and the in-breath begins.

And of course,

You'll notice that your mind wanders.

This is what minds do.

So simply remembering that whenever you notice that your mind has wandered.

Perhaps wandering off to think about things in the past.

Exploring,

Planning,

Writing this,

Thinking about the future.

To simply acknowledge this has happened.

And then with gentleness and kindness.

Bringing the attention back to the breath.

Letting go of the thoughts that have taken the attention away.

But doing this with patience and kindness.

Going with this flow of your breathing.

Breathing in.

Breathing out.

Fully present in this moment.

And in this moment.

This breath.

And this breath now breathing the breath.

Seek to expand your awareness.

Around the breath,

But the whole body.

As you sit here.

Breathing from the top of your head to the tips of your fingers and your toes.

The whole body breathing in this moment.

And it's not unusual to find some intense sensations in our bodies.

And as we have sat for some time,

Maybe even restlessness.

Discomfort,

Or even some pain.

If this is your experience in this moment,

Perhaps seeing if it is possible for you to turn towards these experiences to explore them.

Be curious about how they are.

Moment by moment.

Holding all of this with kindness.

Did you notice them?

Are they constant?

Do they change over time?

Perhaps there is a sense of heat,

Coldness.

Tightness.

So gently,

Kindly exploring your experience.

Because this is your experience right now.

Allowing things to be just as they are.

And when this feels right for you,

Expanding your awareness around any intensity or difficulty you've been exploring.

To have a sense of your body as a whole.

This body,

Sitting in this place.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Moment by moment.

Opening to the different sensations in the body.

Those that are calling loudly.

As well as those that are calling more softly,

More subtly.

And now,

Expanding the awareness.

And allowing thoughts to be the focus of our awareness.

Sitting here,

Receiving thoughts.

So,

Maybe noticing that these thoughts arise.

And noticing whether the thoughts are about the past,

Present.

Maybe the future.

Noticing what is here in the mind.

What thoughts are here?

And it may be helpful to imagine that your thoughts are like clouds passing through the open sky of your mind.

Seeing the mind as spacious,

Open sky.

The clouds passing.

Like thoughts passing through the mind.

Some may seem wispy,

Others are bigger.

Some may seem so dark that they take up the whole sky.

And you may find some thoughts are very easy to let go.

They seem to disperse quickly on their own.

Or some are much more sticky.

They seem to pick us up and carry us away sometimes a long,

Long way away from this present moment.

But if we can.

Allowing these thoughts to move.

To pass.

Just as clouds move across the sky.

Just as clouds will pass,

So will thoughts.

They're not facts.

And actually seeing them go and opening to the spaciousness again.

We can see this.

And perhaps.

There are emotions attached to these thoughts.

And perhaps.

Emotions of excitement or happiness.

Maybe sadness,

Fear,

Anger or frustration.

And it feels OK for you.

It's really exploring your experience of these in this moment.

Within your body.

Opening to the emotions that are there.

Being open and curious about them.

Holding all in kindness and acceptance.

Resting in awareness.

Breathing into the whole body.

And knowing too that at any stage where this feels too difficult,

Too intense.

Just move your attention.

Back to the breath in the belly.

Or perhaps another anchor point,

Feet on the floor.

The hands on the legs or in the lap.

And so as we sit here.

With the body.

Breathing out to the edges of the body.

And maybe to the space beyond.

Breathing in cool air.

And letting go on the out breath.

Softening.

Releasing and letting go.

So now let's bring our focus back to the breath in the belly.

Experiencing the air.

Moving in and moving out.

And in this moment,

Experiencing ourselves as complete and whole.

And knowing that the breath is always there to be returned to as an anchor at any moment throughout the day.

Bringing your awareness.

Back to the body.

Sitting here.

Singing.