Choose Your Anchor

Choose your anchor practice.

In this short practice,

I'm going to take you through three different anchors.

An anchor is something that we can rest the attention onto,

But it's also something that we can bring the attention back to when the mind wanders,

Which it will probably many times even in this short practice.

So firstly,

I'll invite you to find a comfortable seat and adopting a gaze that feels safe and easy for you.

So for some people that will be the eyes closed,

For others that will be eyes open,

Maybe looking at the horizon or lowered gaze and unfocused,

Doing whatever feels right for you and your body.

And we'll start by tuning into the sensations of the feet on the floor.

So perhaps you'll notice the contact and the pressure underneath the feet as they're resting flat on the floor.

You might be aware of the sensations of socks or shoes around the feet,

Or maybe noticing the temperature of the feet,

Exploring the feet with a kind and a curious awareness to see what's here right now in this moment.

And focusing awareness now on where the body meets the seat.

Perhaps there are sensations underneath the thighs and the bum.

Maybe there'll be sensations around the back if you're leaning on the back of the chair.

Tuning into sensations of contact and pressure,

Tangible sensations of the body as it's sat.

And moving to the hands,

Being aware of where they're resting,

Maybe the texture and the temperature,

The contact and pressure here,

Fingers,

Palms of hands or back of hands.

Tuning in to the experience of the hands in this moment.

So the first anchor is the feet,

The seat and the hands.

Tuning into those three points of contact,

Feet,

Seat and hands and whatever sensations that you notice.

Resting the attention here and bringing the attention back when the mind wanders.

And mind wandering is not a problem,

Doesn't mean you can't do the practice,

It's part of the practice to notice when the mind has wandered away from the body.

And then you have a choice,

You can let go of the distraction,

Whatever that might be,

And then return the awareness to the seat,

The feet and the hands.

Tangible sensations of the body as it's sat down.

You might notice that sensations change moment to moment,

Or maybe there's not much to notice at all and that's okay too.

Feet,

Seat and hands.

And if that's enough for you,

You can continue resting with the feet and the seat and the hands as your anchor.

Or you could experiment with the anchor of the breath.

No need to change the breath,

The body's breathing itself anyway.

But begin to bring to the foreground any sensations that you notice that come along with the in-breath and that come along with the out-breath.

So maybe you'll notice a gentle rise and fall around the chest area with the inhale and the exhale.

Perhaps the belly's gently expanding as you breathe in and softening as you breathe out.

Maybe there's some sensations just inside the nose and down the back of the throat.

You might even notice the temperature change of the in-breath and the out-breath.

Finding something interesting about the breath as best you can.

Perhaps following the whole journey of the breath from the moment it enters the body to the moment it leaves.

Using the breath as an anchor.

Breathing in and knowing that you're breathing in.

Breathing out and knowing that you're breathing out.

Very little effort here because the body's already breathing.

Lightly resting the attention within the breath as best you can.

Noticing when the mind wanders away from the breath and gently guiding the awareness back to the breath once more.

And you might like to stick with a breath anchor or continue with the feet,

The seat and the hands.

Or you might like to experiment with a third anchor.

So we can use sounds as an anchor as well,

Turning the attention outward to place hearing centre stage.

Starting to listen to the sounds,

Maybe first of all in the room that you're in and maybe further afield as well.

See if you can bring the same curiosity and attention to the experience of hearing as you did with the experience of the breath and of the body on the seat.

See if it's possible to allow all sounds to come into awareness rather than favouring the ones that sound particularly pleasurable or pleasant and pushing away the ones that aren't so much.

Can you allow them all to coexist?

Can you notice the spaces between the sounds?

And you might find that the mind gets kind of lost in thought and carried away with stories about the sounds or getting involved in conversations if there's voices.

Noticing that if it happens,

Letting go of that habit and tendency and coming back to simply listening without getting too involved with the sounds themselves.

Placing sounds centre stage in the field of awareness.

Sounds and the spaces between them.

And the invitation is for this final section of the practice to find the anchor that best serves you.

So that might be the sensations of the body on the seat,

The feet on the floor and the hands on the lap,

Feet,

Seat,

Hands.

That might be the movements and the sensations of the body's natural breath,

Aware of the inhale and aware of the exhale.

Or it could be the sense of hearing placing sounds in the focus of awareness.

Choosing the anchor that best serves you,

Placing the attention onto it,

Finding something interesting about it and bringing the focus back to it when the mind wanders.

Choosing the anchor that best serves you and know for the next couple of minutes that's all there is to do.

Nowhere else to be,

Nothing else to do.

Simply resting in awareness,

Placing your anchor centre stage.

The mind will wander because that's what minds do,

Noticing that,

Letting go of whatever the distraction,

Coming back to the anchor again and again.

Noticing the mind's tendency to get distracted,

Lost in thought,

Planning,

Daydreaming,

Maybe even sleepiness and know that all of that is natural and normal and okay.

Coming back to the anchor with patience,

With kindness and whatever the anchor is that you've chosen,

Letting go of that,

Redirecting the attention to the parts of the body that are in contact with the seat.

Being aware of the weight of the body as it rests here,

The shape of the body,

Perhaps noticing the facial expression,

Being aware of the clothes against the skin perhaps,

Dropping the awareness back into the feet and being aware of the sensations of the feet on the floor,

Contact,

Pressure and temperature.

Sitting for a few moments in silence before I draw the practice to a close and I'll encourage you to bring the same curious and kind awareness into whatever you're going to do next in your day.