304 Sitting Meditation With Focus - 25 Minutes

You will now start with a sitting meditation with focus,

Arranging to spend this time in a comfortable but attentive posture.

Preferably sitting up without letting back for support,

If that's possible for you.

Sitting in a dignified posture,

Head balanced on shoulders,

Arms and hands resting in a comfortable position.

This is a time to switch from our normal mode of doing and moving and reacting to one of simply being.

Just be attentive to what's happening within your own awareness,

Right here and right now.

And as you sit,

Just noticing sensations of breath,

Just noticing how your abdomen moves on each in-breath and out-breath.

The movement of air through your nostrils,

A slight movement of chest and shoulders.

Just bring your awareness to your breath cycle,

And wherever it is the most vivid,

Whether it be your tummy,

Your chest or shoulders,

Or the movement of air through your nostrils.

Noticing the entirety of breath,

From the movement of the air coming in and filling the lungs,

And extending the abdomen slightly,

The movement of air going out,

And being aware of the pause,

The stopping point,

In between the in-breath and the out-breath,

And the out-breath and the next in-breath.

It's all one movement,

Even though the changing of direction.

Just notice where that pause is,

Seeing to what degree you can be aware of your whole entire cycle.

Recognizing that each part of the cycle is different from the other part,

And this time through may be different than the last time through.

And each one is absolutely unique in its own way.

If you pay attention,

You will notice your attention from time to time shifting away from breath.

The mind may wander into fantasies or memories,

Thoughts of the day,

Worries that you might have,

Things you need to do.

And without giving yourself a hard time,

When you notice that it happened,

Gently but firmly bring your attention back to the sensations of breathing,

The actual physical sensations of breath as it moves through your body,

Being aware of where the mind goes,

And gently shifting your awareness back to the sensations of the breath.

And notice the tendency to want to control your breathing.

Let the quality of attention be light and easy,

One of simply observing and noticing,

Just as if you were on a float on a gently undulating sea,

Where you're up with one wave and down with the next.

You don't control the duration of the wave or the depth between the waves.

You are just riding,

And just gently coming back to the sensations of breathing.

And then I would like to invite you to bring your awareness to the body sensations,

The sensations of your whole body.

So you can just let go of the breath and bring all the awareness to the body sensations.

And just seeing if it is possible in those moments when your awareness is gone somewhere else,

Noticing how that flicker of attention happens,

That moment when you realize it is somewhere else,

Somewhere other than the body sensations.

And at that time,

Seeing if it is possible of having an attitude of celebration,

Of congratulation,

Of recognition that this is a moment of awareness.

You acknowledge yourself for noticing you've gone somewhere else,

And just easily bring your attention back to the body sensations,

In a friendly and a non-judgmental way.

And as you do this exercise for a time now,

You may notice there are sensations of discomfort that happen for you.

There are several things which can be done with just the sensation.

One way to deal with the sensation is to allow yourself to shift.

But in doing that,

First becoming aware of the sensation,

Noticing precisely where the tension might be.

And once you are aware of where that is,

Developing an intention to move,

And moving mindfully,

And with full intent to make that motion.

That's one way to deal with strong sensation.

A second way,

And neither one is better than the other,

As long as full awareness is brought to all parts,

Is to notice that sensation,

Noticing it in its fullness.

Being curious about the extent of it,

How your experience of it is at the moment,

The actual physical sensations of tension or of throbbing,

Or of tightness,

Or of pulling,

Or tingling.

And the second way of dealing with it is just to notice that it's possible to stay for a moment longer with that sensation.

Experienced as pure sensation,

Without the labels of discomfort or of tension.

Just noticing just where it is,

Noticing your experience of it,

And staying with it,

Without having to react to it,

Just for the moment.

And if your attention keeps getting called back to that area of intense sensation,

Knowing you have those two choices,

Of forming an intention to do something about it,

And mindfully doing it.

But forming intention first,

Or bringing your attention and intention right into it.

Be curious about it.

How big is it?

How long is it?

What quality does it have?

How is it changing over time?

And wherever the mind goes,

In terms of thoughts,

To liking or disliking,

Perceptions of sensation,

Or hearing of sound,

Or feelings of peace or of sadness,

Or frustration,

Or of anticipation,

Just noticing these raw thoughts forms,

And seeing if it's possible to have a friendly attitude toward whatever comes into your awareness.

Being aware of the body sensations.

And now if your mind has gone off on a fantasy or a thought,

Or a judgment or a worry,

Or a sensation or a sound,

Just in a friendly way,

Notice that this is happening,

And coming back to the body sensations.

And then I would like to invite you to bring your awareness to the hearing,

To the sounds.

You may notice that there are sounds in addition to the sounds that come from this recording,

Sounds of traffic or movement,

Or something else going on.

And just notice that your attention has moved to that perception of sound,

Just staying with it long enough to notice the quality of the sound.

The sound is a vibration,

A tone,

Volume,

Or a density.

And just being aware of the mind to label sound as traffic,

Or as voices,

Or as music,

And coming closer to the sound as it hits your eardrums,

The quality,

Or pitch,

Or rhythm,

Or intensity.

Separating out the actual reception of sound from the labels we put on it.

And if you've gotten off to noticing the perception of sound,

Bring your attention once again back to the breath,

Letting your breath be your anger of awareness,

So that each time your awareness goes somewhere else,

Just gently coming back to breath,

And then bring your attention back to the hearing,

To the sounds,

Without judgment or any upset,

If you can do that.

And noticing the tendency to have an opinion about things,

About liking the way things are going right now,

Not liking it,

Finding it uncomfortable.

That too can be an object of awareness,

Just noticing that you have an opinion about things often.

So,

That's my liking mind,

It's liking this.

So,

That's my critical mind that would rather have things be different than they are,

And that too can be noticed.

Building the capacity to notice liking or disliking,

And not to have to do anything about it,

How freeing that is.

And as you notice that happening,

Just bring your awareness to the hearing,

To the sounds,

And if you like,

I would now like to invite you to extend your awareness to the thinking,

Just like you were aware of the flow of the breathing,

The body sensations which appear and move away,

And the sounds which appear and move away.

You can also be aware of the thoughts which appear and move away,

Just being aware of the thinking process,

How a thought comes up,

Stays for a moment,

And moves away.

Thoughts are just like passing clouds in the sky,

They come up,

They stay for a moment,

And they move away.

It might be helpful to name the thoughts,

Like a memory,

A plan,

Just see how this works for you,

And then expand your awareness to all what appears right now.

At this moment,

When your breathing is top of your awareness right now,

Then be aware of the breath.

When body sensations dominate your awareness,

Or when sounds or thoughts are most dominating at this time,

Just be aware of it.

You don't have to do anything about it,

You don't have to push it away or hold it,

Just being aware of what is happening right now,

Right here.

And as this meditation comes to an end,

Recognizing that you spent this time intentionally aware of your moment-to-moment experience,

Nourishing and strengthening your ability to be with whatever comes your way,

Building the capacity for opening the senses to the vividness,

To the aliveness of the present moment,

Expanding your skill to be curious and available about whatever presents itself,

Without judgment.

And now,

If you like,

Bring your awareness back to the place where you are right now,

The room where you are in,

And then gently open your eyes and complete this exercise in your own way.