The sitting meditation.
Settling down in a comfortable way on a cushion or a chair.
Sit in a dignified manner with your back in an erect and comfortable posture.
If you are sitting on a chair,
Let both feet rest flat on the floor.
If you feel comfortable,
Close your eyes.
If you prefer to keep your eyes open,
Let your gaze fall unfocused on the floor in front of you.
Sitting here,
Bring your awareness down in your body,
Starting with your feet on the floor.
Exploring whatever sensation might be there.
Contact with the floor.
A feeling of touch and pressure,
Perhaps maybe warmth or coldness.
Whatever is there.
And slowly letting your attention rise up in your body.
Your buttocks contacting the cushion or chair.
And going up with your awareness,
With your open posture.
Shoulders softened.
Your hands on your knees or in your lap.
And your chin chucked slightly down.
The back of your neck lengthened.
Just being aware of sitting here in the present moment.
You don't have to achieve anything,
You are just sitting here.
Aware of sitting here as a whole.
Aware of breathing.
Just following the breath through your nose,
Towards your lungs and back out.
Aware of the breathing in,
Followed by the out-breath.
And every out-breath followed by the in-breath.
And you might even notice a small pause between each in-breath to the out-breath.
And a pause between the out-breath to the in-breath.
Try not to change your breathing.
Just observe the sensations of breathing.
There is no special way of breathing.
The intention is to simply allow your attention to gather around the sensations of breathing.
And if your mind wanders,
As it will,
Simply bringing your attention back to the breath.
And if your mind wanders,
As it will,
Simply bringing your attention back to the breath.
And when your mind wanders,
As it will,
Simply bringing your attention back to the breath.
Just notice where it went.
You might inwardly say to yourself,
Oh,
There is thinking.
Thinking.
Or there is planning.
Planning.
Or whatever it is that is there.
And then gently and kindly bring your attention back to the breath.
And if your mind wanders off a hundred times,
Just kindly bring it back a hundred times.
Just breathing.
Just following the breath.
And when the mind wanders,
As it will,
Simply bringing your attention back to the breath.
And when the mind wanders,
Just seeing where it went.
Gently and kindly bringing the attention back to the breath.
And when the mind wanders,
Just seeing where it went.
Gently.
Gently.
The attention of this meditation is not only being constantly aware of your breath.
The intention is also to simply being aware of your mind's wandering.
Noticing that your mind did wander off.
And bringing the attention gently and kindly back to your breath.
And now we will expand our attention from the breath to your body as a whole.
With the breathing in the background.
Aware of your entire body.
Just like it is in this moment.
With the skin as an outward boundary.
And everything within.
Just your body as a whole.
And your mind might wander off to thoughts,
Planning,
Memories.
And you don't have to judge yourself.
Be kind to yourself.
It's okay.
You notice that you wandered off.
And just gently and kindly bring your attention back to your body.
To your body as a whole.
And while you are aware of your body,
There might be a place that is drawing your attention.
Maybe a pain or a discomfort.
A tingling,
Maybe just an itch.
And you can choose to give this place your full awareness.
Exploring this area with curiosity.
How does it feel?
And where do you feel these sensations?
Is there a clear boundary or is it more vague?
Does it change in time?
Then maybe you will notice thoughts or emotions regarding this sensation.
You can try breathing towards this area.
On an in-breath going towards it.
And on an out-breath going away from this area.
Not with the intention to get rid of these sensations,
Or to change them.
But just to lead kind attention to this area with the breathing.
And in time you can bring your awareness back to your body as a whole.
Until another sensation in your body asks for more attention.
And you again can choose to bring your attention to this area.
Very interesting.
