Today we're going to practice looking at our minds response to sensations in our bodies.
We'll take steps to do this first looking at the sensations then looking at the feeling tone and then looking at our minds response.
If that sounds overwhelming it's okay.
This is a deeper mindfulness practice but it is absolutely doable for anybody.
So you can begin by finding a comfortable meditation posture,
Allowing your eyes to close if you wish.
As you settle in and make any final adjustments,
You can notice what it feels like in the body to be sitting here right now.
What can you feel?
Maybe your weight in the chair or cushion,
Maybe you feel your feet on the floor,
The temperature of the air around you.
For a few moments here just investigating what it feels like to be here right now.
We can use the breath to anchor ourselves.
As we inhale we may notice the air coming in through our nostrils,
Filling our lungs as our chest expands.
As we exhale we can feel the rib cage and chest collapse a little bit and the air exiting our nostrils a little bit warmer than when it came in.
We can jump right into looking at the feeling tones in our body.
Using the breath as your anchor allow the awareness to expand to include any sensations that arise in the body.
It could be the feeling of your body contacting something else or maybe coming in contact with another part of your body.
It could be the sensation of the clothes on your body,
The air against your skin,
An itch,
A sore.
If something draws your attention turning towards it for just a moment and just noting is it pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral.
What's the flavor of this experience?
You can stick with it for just a moment and then open the awareness back up to see what else arises.
It may sound in your head a little bit like this.
Pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Pleasant,
Neutral,
And so on.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
As we begin to become more aware of the feeling tone of our sensations and our experience,
We can bring in the third foundation of mindfulness.
Mindfulness of the mind.
Here we just add on one extra step.
You can ask yourself what's my mind's response to this experience?
Is your mind with anger or aversion?
Is it in desire or clinging?
Is it in a state of judgment?
Is it in a state of happiness or relaxation?
So when a sensation arises,
For example,
An itch,
You can turn towards the itch.
Notice that it's unpleasant,
And if you're really mindful,
You can see that maybe your mind reacts with a little bit of anger or aversion,
Becomes a little tense.
Opening the awareness back up.
Maybe the sensation of our breath is really strong.
We find it pleasant,
And maybe we find ourselves in desire,
Wanting to stay with the sensation because it feels good.
In this practice,
We're looking at the mental state.
What's the state of mind?
Is it calm and serene,
Or is it agitated?
Maybe a neutral sensation has you feeling bored.
Once you note the mental state,
You can let go,
Return to the breath,
And open the awareness back up.
So it may sound something like this in your head.
You have a sore knee,
Unpleasant,
Agitated,
Sensation of my foot on the ground,
Neutral,
Uninterested,
Cool breeze on my face,
Pleasant,
Attachment,
Don't want it to stop.
So continue on like this,
Following these three simple steps,
And being gentle with yourself when the mind wanders.
Just coming back to the breath,
And looking at the body.
What are you experiencing?
What's the feeling tone,
And how does your mind respond?
It's natural that the mind wanders,
It falls into thought,
Or judgment.
It's okay.
When this happens and you notice it,
Put forth the right amount of effort,
And come back to the body.
That thought doesn't need resolving right now.
It'll still be there when the meditation is over.
As we let go of it and return to the body,
It's a practice in letting go,
In concentration.
We can return to the body,
Notice the flavor of our experience,
And notice the mind's response.
And maybe the mind's response is that it gets anxious and begins thinking.
It's not a bad thing,
It's not wrong,
The mind does it all on its own,
And it's our job right now to simply be aware of it.
In this last minute,
Put a little extra effort forth,
Not being hard on yourself,
Just really putting the effort forth to see what's going on in the body,
How it feels,
And what the mind does with it.
