The following practice has been brought to you by the School of Kamma,
Empowering students through mindfulness meditation.
Before you begin,
Find a safe and comfortable space where you won't be disturbed.
For safety,
Do not listen to this recording whilst driving or operating machinery.
Hi,
I'm Matt and I'll be your guide for this following period of meditation.
Take a couple of moments to make yourself comfortable.
You may want to sit upright with the back straight or if you're new to the practice,
Lie down and when you're comfortable and ready,
Bring the eyes to a gentle close.
Take a moment to check in with how you feel.
You may want to notice the quality of the breath,
Whether it's deep or shallow,
Long or short,
As you give yourself an experiential reference point before we come to relax the body part by part.
And to do this,
I like to begin with the soles of my feet,
Noticing any sensations here,
Any subtle tingling as I guide my attention into the toes,
Around the ankles,
The tops of the feet and into the shins and calves,
Without trying to push any feelings or sensations away from the mind,
Any tension that might be lurking in the knees,
As I come to the thighs and the glutes,
Feeling the weight of the body here and maybe even making a slight adjustment of the legs,
Just to make sure that we can be as relaxed as we can.
I invite you to bring the inner gaze to the lower back,
An area where we can also hold some tension,
Aching.
You may want to you may want to give the back a little stretch here,
By pushing the chest out ever so slightly,
Before allowing it to relax on the exhale,
As you continue to notice the back,
The upper back and the shoulders,
Again an area where we can hold tightness and you may want to slightly kiss the shoulders up towards the ears and give them a scrunch,
Before releasing and allowing them to drop deeper,
As you drip the mind's gaze down the arms,
Over the elbows,
Into the forearms,
Wrists and hands.
You may notice some tingling sensations in the fingers,
Perhaps,
And we can use this increase in mindful concentration to sweep our attention from the abdomen into the cavity of the torso,
Acknowledging the organs,
Before emerging softly in the chest,
Being aware of any residual tension and just allowing it to be as it is,
As it is,
And coming finally to the neck and throat,
Into the face,
The lips,
Chin,
Cheeks,
Eyes,
Nose and forehead,
Arriving at the top of the head and taking a few moments now to notice how the body feels in totality and also the effect this has on the activity of the mind.
As we take this time to reflect and prepare,
We may come into contact with a series of new emotions,
Feelings and thoughts,
A mix of excitement and doubt,
Optimism and apprehension,
Freedom and pressure,
And this is a perfectly normal and natural reaction,
Especially when we're faced with the impending high expectation scenarios,
Such as freshers in the start of term,
And we may feel a tendency to push things away,
But it can be useful to observe and integrate all aspects of our subjective unfolding.
Unfolding pressures often comes with a distinct pressure,
Pressure to find friends for life in the first week,
Pressure to party or be social non-stop,
And the pressure to have this amazing time.
After all,
This is something that will fly by as we are repeatedly reminded,
But it's important that we are kind to ourselves throughout this process and remember that deep down everyone is in the same boat.
Yes,
We will have fun,
Meet more interesting people than we can remember the names of,
And try many new and interesting things,
But we may also feel a little homesick,
A little overwhelmed,
And a little burnt out or run down at times,
And that's perfectly okay.
Knowing this,
We can be mindful to take care of ourselves,
Trust our intuition,
And look after those around us.
We can be generous and kind to others.
We may also be struggling or feeling nervous.
After all,
Events and intense periods of social engagement are not for everyone.
Sometimes we do just want to chill out,
Chat,
And engage in a more relaxed activity.
In any case,
The best thing we can do during this time is to be ourselves,
Explore the things that appeal to us,
And seek out the experience that will help us grow.
There's no right or wrong way to do this,
Only the way that resonates with the person that we want to become.
Freshers' Week is not the be-all and end-all of a university life,
Just one,
And just the beginning.
Coming close to the end of the meditation period now,
Take a moment to check in once again with how you feel.
Notice what has changed.
We don't need to quantify or give anything a label,
Just feel.
Remember that you can work with this practice.
As many times as you like,
And whenever you need to.
You'll now hear the bell ring three times,
And on the third ringing of the bell,
Slowly and gently,
Open the eyes and return to the room.
