Awareness of breathing,
Noting rising and falling.
Bringing your attention to your sitting posture.
Being simply aware that you are now sitting with a straight yet relaxed posture.
At first simply feeling the physical feelings of the buttocks pressing against the mat or the cushion or chair on which you sit.
Grounding awareness in this present moment.
Allow a broad awareness to embrace your whole body for a few moments.
Simply mindfully knowing that you are sitting.
And now we are going to take three slow and deep in and out breaths.
Releasing any tension you may be feeling with the out breath.
Breathing slowly and deeply in all the way into the abdomen.
And then breathing out,
Letting go,
Relaxing.
And once again breathing deeply in.
Breathing out,
Putting things down.
And one more deep in and out breath at your own pace.
Now allow the breathing to become relaxed and natural.
Breathing naturally,
Ordinarily at your own pace.
Acknowledge that we are now doing a session of sitting meditation.
Rather than meditating now,
We don't need to do anything or go anywhere.
Just taking relaxed,
Natural breaths.
Just breathing.
Just sitting.
Not following thoughts,
Allowing thoughts to simply drop away.
Now with mindful awareness,
Try to feel the area around the top of the head.
Simply aware of the various feelings on the surface area of the skin.
And now include the face,
And the ears,
And the neck.
Now include the upper shoulder area.
Simply aware,
Simply feeling,
Knowing the various feelings on the surface of the skin in the shoulder area.
Feeling more aware,
More alert,
More in the present moment.
And at the same time relaxing.
Aware of the shoulders.
Relaxing the shoulders.
Now include the chest in this awareness.
And then include the stomach area.
Then bring this gentle knowing awareness to include all of your back.
And now include your arms.
Embracing the whole upper area of the body with gentle awareness.
Not judging,
Not discriminating.
Now include the lower abdomen,
The groin,
And the buttocks.
Feel your bottom pressing against the surface underneath.
Allowing the awareness to shift from the realms of thoughts and emotions.
And simply settling with awareness of sitting.
Now slowly and gently include the legs and feet in your awareness.
Feel the whole body simply sitting,
Knowing the sitting posture.
Now bring your awareness to your in and out breathing.
Being mindful of each in and out breath.
We are going to use a mental noting method so as to assist our mindfulness in staying with the feeling of the in and out breath.
We will note in three distinct places,
At the tip of the nose,
In the area of the chest,
And in the abdomen.
As the breath comes in through the nose,
Mentally note one at the nose.
As the breath comes into the chest,
Note two at the chest.
As the breath comes into the abdomen,
Note three at the abdomen.
And as the breath leaves the body,
Note three at the abdomen,
Two at the chest,
And one at the nose.
The mental noting is gentle and quiet.
One two three,
Three two one.
One two three,
Three two one.
The main meditation object is the feeling of the breath.
We intend to be aware of the feeling of the breath as it passes through the nose,
Down through the chest,
And into the abdomen.
And then aware of the breath as it passes from the abdomen,
Out through the chest,
And out the nose.
The gentle mental noting helps us to stay with our meditation object,
Not letting the mind wander off into thinking about this or that.
Aware of the in-breath,
One two three,
And aware of the out-breath,
Three two one.
Aware of the in-breath.
Aware of the entire in-breath and the entire out-breath.
One two three,
Three two one.
One two three,
Three two one.
One two three,
Three two one.
One two three,
Three two one.
One two three,
Three two one.
While still intending to be aware of the breath at these same three points,
We will now change our noting method to a more simple one,
Allowing the mind to become a little more quiet,
A little more spacious.
From now on,
With each in-breath,
Simply note rising,
And with each out-breath,
Note falling.
The breath comes into the body quite naturally,
And then simply leaves the body again.
Then there is another in-breath,
And then another out-breath.
Coming and going,
Arising and passing away.
Rising and falling,
Falling.
On the in-breath,
Noting,
Rising,
And on the out-breath,
Falling.
On the out-breath,
Noting,
Rising,
And on the out-breath,
Falling.
On the out-breath,
Noting,
Rising,
And on the out-breath,
Falling.
Aware of the entire in-breath,
Rising.
Aware of the entire in-breath,
Rising.
And aware of the entire out-breath,
Falling.
The mental noting is gentle and caring,
Taking care of mindfulness,
Minding the breath,
Watching over each in-breath and watching over each out-breath.
Rising,
Falling.
There will now be a two-minute period of silence for you to practice mindfulness of breathing and noting in this way.
If you find now that you can feel the sensation of the breathing more distinctly at one of the three places,
You can choose to place your awareness primarily on that one place,
Be it the area of the nose,
Or the chest area,
Or in the area of the abdomen,
Wherever you can feel the breath most clearly.
Allowing awareness to rest with the sensations of the breath in just one place,
Still noting the rise and fall of the breath to assist in mindfulness.
Rising,
Falling.
If you would prefer to continue observing the breath in all three places as before,
That's fine too.
You can choose whichever seems more peaceful.
Start again with this.
At that moment When do you feel the breath now?
How are you feeling,
While observing the breath without even noticing.
Rising Tact biodiversity falling You might notice that even when you observe the breath in just one place,
There are sensations in that one place at the beginning of the in-breath,
At the middle of the in-breath,
And at the end of the in-breath.
Similarly with the out-breath,
Try to be mindfully aware of all of these subtle changes.
Being aware of the entire in-breath and the entire out-breath.
Aware of the breath as it arises and falls away in just one place,
Or in all three places as before,
If you prefer.
Rising and falling.
Encourage the mind to be with the breath where it seems most peaceful.
Rising,
Falling,
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling,
Rising,
Rising,
Rising,
Rising,
Rising.
Allowing the mind to rest within these gentle parameters with less and less thought activity,
Not really going anywhere,
Simply settling into the present moment,
Alert yet relaxed.
Maintaining a clear awareness of each in-breath and each out-breath,
The entire in-breath and the entire out-breath.
Allowing the mind to rest within these gentle parameters with less and less thought activity,
Not really going anywhere,
Simply settling into the present moment,
Alert yet relaxed.
Sometimes it can be helpful to bring an inquiring,
Contemplative attitude to our meditation.
As you are practicing mindful awareness,
Try to be interested in observing this rise and fall of phenomena.
Even though the breath is our primary meditation object,
Perhaps there are other physical feelings which arise and fall.
Similarly thoughts may stir,
Bubble up and then fall away.
Or perhaps there are subtle changes in mood.
These also arise.
Stay for some time and cease.
While still observing the rise and fall of the in and out breathing,
We can be mindful of the rise and fall of other phenomena as well.
Simply observing,
Simply being aware.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Without the remainder of this meditation,
As well as gently reminding you to note the in and out breaths with the simple words,
Rising and falling,
I will also occasionally quote some short teachings from Ajahn Chah.
Simply try to be aware of the message contained in these teachings.
Allow these short quotes to encourage and inform your mindfulness,
While still maintaining awareness of the entire in-breath and the entire out-breath.
So the Buddha taught to discard the past and discard the future.
Saying discard doesn't really mean that we throw anything away,
But that we remain in this single point of the present,
Where the past and the future come together.
What we want to do is to be aware of the present.
Where causes and results are to be found.
We look at the present and see continuous arising and ceasing.
Noting on the end of the breath,
We see the present and the future.
Noting on the in-breath,
Rising,
And on the out-breath,
Falling.
So the Buddha taught to discard the past and discard the future.
So the Buddha taught to discard the past and discard the future.
So the Buddha taught to discard the past and discard the future.
So the Buddha taught to discard the past and discard the future.
So the Buddha taught to discard the past and discard the future.
So the Buddha taught to discard the past and discard the future.
If the mind runs off into thinking sometimes,
Whenever you recognize that the mind has wandered,
Simply start again.
One in-breath,
One out-breath.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
When you sit in meditation,
There may be various conditions of mind appearing.
Knowing and knowing all manner of things.
Experiencing different states.
Don't try to keep track of them.
You only need to remind yourself that they are uncertain.
This is enough.
It's simple,
Easy to do.
And then you can stop.
It's simple,
Easy to do.
Know what an��는 gorgeous pby rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Rising,
Falling.
Don't make too much out of that or get attached to it.
Simply knowing the in and out breathing in the present moment,
Noting rising and falling.
Aware of each in-breath rising and each out-breath falling.
Aware of the entire in-breath and the entire out-breath.
Resting in natural awareness.
Letting all other things go.
Letting all other things go.
Letting all other things go.
Letting all other things go.
Letting all other things go.
In a couple of minutes this guided meditation will end.
Try to enjoy these last remaining moments.
If you have time to continue this meditation,
Please do so.
Maintaining awareness of the breath and observing impermanence.
If you wish to,
You can dedicate the merit of this meditation now to a relative,
A friend,
Or a teacher,
Either living or having passed away.
And now to quote Ajahn Chah one last time.
This world of beings has nothing of its own.
Nothing belongs to anyone.
Seeing this with correct view,
We will release our grip.
Just letting things be.
Coming into this world,
Seeing its limitations,
We go about our business and seek a profit by way of building virtue,
By developing the baramis or perfections.
When you are ready,
You can open your eyes.
Try to bring a quality of mindfulness and wisdom to your other activities throughout the day.
Be well.
