So in this practice we're just going to work on enjoying any pleasant aspects of the meditation practice and take a little while to appreciate what's going well in our practice.
So starting with a few deep breaths,
Noticing any areas of tension or tightness in the body and seeing if you can allow that to relax.
You may notice some tension especially around the brow,
Around the eyes,
Maybe in the shoulders.
So just seeing if you can relax that as much as you can,
Noticing that it feels good to relax,
The body wants to relax.
And then just bringing a light attention to the breath sensations wherever you usually follow them.
Perhaps counting the breath to ten and just settling the mind.
And if you notice any distractions,
If you notice the mind has started to wander,
Taking a moment to celebrate that moment of noticing and then gently bringing your attention back to the breath.
So now just beginning to notice any pleasant aspects of experience right now.
So you can allow the breath sensations to fall into the background.
So what's pleasant right now?
There may be some background sounds like the wind or even just the silence.
Maybe you're feeling comfortable or there's at least part of the body that feels comfortable.
Perhaps there's some warmth somewhere like in the hands.
If that's true just noticing the pleasantness of that.
Maybe the body is relaxed and again now if there's any tension just taking a few moments to breathe into that area or imagine breathing into that area,
Allowing the tension to relax and just noticing that feels good to do that.
Is there any aspect of the breath sensations which are pleasant?
Even very subtly pleasant?
There are probably a lot of signals that your body is sending to tell you that things are okay and you can tune into these.
So for example you're breathing,
You're probably getting enough oxygen and you can notice how much better it feels to be breathing than not to be breathing.
If you're not ill,
You're not in pain,
These are things that you can savor just as most of us do for a day or two after we recover from an illness and we're freed from nausea.
And since the usual meditation object is the breath,
Perhaps seeing particularly if you can notice the pleasant aspects of the breath sensations,
What's there to be enjoyed in the breath.
And again setting a very low bar for the pleasant sensations you're looking for.
If there's anything that's even slightly more pleasant than neutral,
That's great.
Probably you'll mostly be finding very subtle,
Very small or fleeting pleasant sensations at least at first and that's fine,
That's great.
You don't have to try to make things more pleasurable than they actually are.
Just tuning into the pleasure that's actually there and just staying open to any pleasantness that might arise.
Letting this be a very relaxed and curious practice.
So now just tuning into your general mental state and noticing any pleasant aspects of the mind state that are present right now.
So perhaps there's some peacefulness,
Some contentment,
Some absence of striving or agitation which you can appreciate.
This can be difficult to pay attention to at first so don't worry if it feels a little bit vague.
See if you can notice the ways in which it feels good to be present fully in the moment with your experience.
You know what your attention is doing right now,
You aren't lost in thought right now.
The degree of awareness and the choice you have over what your attention is doing is a kind of freedom that many people may experience few times in their whole lives.
So gently moving attention more fully back to the breath sensations and seeing whether any feelings of peacefulness,
Contentment or even joy that have developed throughout this practice can remain in awareness as you rest your attention lightly on the breath and if attention wanders to distractions again taking a moment to celebrate that moment of noticing.
And as you tune back into the meditation object see if you can tune also into the pleasantness of the meditation experience.
So coming back to the meditation object not because you have to but because it feels good to do so.
And if difficult feelings like pain or frustration arise you don't have to push them away.
Just see if you can hold those feelings with acceptance and compassion for yourself and notice that they can coexist with pleasant sensations.
So you can have frustration in awareness and you can also have some degree of peacefulness and even joy at the same time.
And over time the pleasant aspects of the meditation become like a staple base that you can practice from even when there's difficulty.
So you can continue this practice for as long as you'd like or you can gently bring the practice to a close.
