Hi,
And welcome to the Realign Meditation Series.
This one is called Tracking Sensation.
The purpose of this meditation is to help cultivate an awareness of sensation in the body,
Which in turn allows us not only to deepen our focus,
But also become more aware over time throughout the day about what the body is trying to tell us about our emotional or stress state,
So that we can more easily and more quickly bring ourselves back into balance.
To deepen your experience of this meditation,
It's advisable to have done perhaps two or three rounds of the Wim Hof Method breathing technique,
Never in an intense,
Powerful way,
But more in a soft,
Deeper,
Sustainable way,
So that by now you're in a state that's pretty relaxed.
Let's begin by setting up our posture.
If you are lying down,
I highly recommend sitting up either in a chair with your back supported,
Feet firmly on the floor,
Hands in your lap,
Or if you're in a meditation posture,
Perhaps sat up on something so that your hips are a little higher than your knees.
Spine tall,
Skin soft.
Just take a simple breath in,
However you're sitting.
Just feel the top of the head rise to the ceiling,
The spine straight.
As you exhale,
Maintain that posture,
But just feel the shoulders simply drop down.
Maintain that comfortable but alert posture throughout.
In this stillness,
Just draw your attention to your breath.
Without trying to change anything initially,
Just notice the state of your breathing,
Where you can feel it the most in your body.
It's in your chest and your nose,
Perhaps your belly gently rising and falling.
Now,
Just for a few breaths,
Consciously smoothen out any imperfections in the inhale or the exhale.
It's a perfectly smooth and soft breath.
No pauses at the top or the bottom.
The simple technique and this awareness of our breath,
This is an anchor with which we can come back to whenever we become distracted or lost in thought and frustrations,
The mind doing its job.
Breathing out the breath with restful awareness of where you can feel it the most in the body.
Now I'd like you to scan your body up and down,
Specifically to look for any sensations that you may feel in it.
It may be something very subtle and dull.
It might be something there,
But often after we've done a breathing technique,
There's more oxygen flowing throughout the body and it's a little easier for these sensations to be detected once we draw our mind's attention towards them.
No stress,
If nothing's standing out,
We're just looking.
The more we look,
The more we cultivate our awareness and sharpen our focus in this way,
Each day it will become a little easier to notice anything that's there.
Subtle sensations and perhaps the tight jaw,
Maybe there's a throbbing in the forehead.
There's something in your chest,
Very often in the stomach.
A lot of the unconscious mind is actually stored in the legs.
Just looking and if you found something,
Rest your awareness in this space,
Continuing to breathe,
Resting your attention in the sensation.
Now I'm going to ask you to do something that sounds a little strange.
I'd like you to try and turn up the volume on this sensation with your mind.
Really intensify this sensation.
Notice what happens.
You can gently turn up the volume a little more,
Intensify this sensation.
Nice and safe.
See what happens to the breathing.
See what happens to the rest of the body.
Just as we can turn up the temperature in certain areas of our fingertips or our organs with our mind.
You can also intensify these sensations to see what's underneath.
So for one last time,
I'll ask you to amplify this sensation a little more and just be curious about what comes up.
Is there an emotion?
Is there a pain?
What's there?
You may intuitively want to do something else and physically squeeze.
Be intuitive and gentle and curious.
A few more seconds.
And now just as you turned up the volume,
Let it go.
Turn it down.
Relax.
Your next out-breath,
Just clear any residual tension you feel in the body.
Just let go.
Nothing more to do.
Notice if there are any emotions there,
Related or completely unrelated.
Is there another sensation?
Do you feel nothing at all?
There's no right or wrong answer.
We're just observing.
Remember to breathe softly if you're not.
Always coming back to the breath as a place of safety.
Perhaps there was a question that came up,
An insight.
Perhaps a sensation.
There's nothing at all.
No judgment.
Just relaxing a little more now and letting go of any effort,
Any concentration.
Letting go of the breath.
Just letting the mind do what it wants for a moment.
Now,
Start to deepen your breath.
Bring some gentle movement into the fingertips,
Your toes.
Just observing what that was for you and how it could be tomorrow,
How it was the day before if you've done this meditation already.
Over time we can cultivate more awareness.
We can direct our focus.
We can turn up the volume on these sensations until they become emotions that often give us a deeper insight into what's really going on for us.
What's really behind a frustration,
An anger,
A happiness,
A sadness.
Always be gentle with this process.
It's easy to carry a lot and for the breath and awareness to bring a lot up.
If that was the case then be gentle with yourself.
Perhaps journal and make a couple of notes.
However that was for you.
You can now slowly but surely bring yourself back into the room.
Open your eyes.
I hope you found this meditation useful.
I invite you to try it again and see what comes up next time.
Have a beautiful day.
