This will be a brief breathing meditation and this is an opportunity for you to be right here right now in the present moment,
Intentionally bringing an attitude of loving curiosity and awareness and noticing your thoughts as just thoughts,
Not something that you need to respond or react to right now.
So starting by getting in a comfortable position with both feet on the floor,
Placing your hands comfortably in your lap,
Palms up,
And gently closing your eyes or if you prefer leaving them a little bit open with your gaze down.
And starting by scanning from head to toe,
Noticing if there's any tightness or tension in your body and gently letting that go if it's easy to do so.
Just letting yourself relax more deeply into the chair,
Relaxing into the present moment right here right now and noticing with your feet on the floor and the earth holding up your chair and the chair holding you up that there's nothing you need to do right now,
Just be here.
And now turning your attention to your breath,
You don't need to alter your breath at all,
Just becoming the observer,
Intentionally bringing an attitude of curiosity and openness and kindness just following each new breath.
Remembering the breath is always here,
It's always available to you as a connection to the present moment.
And your mind will wander many,
Many times and that's okay.
Each time you catch your mind wandering,
Notice this is just a thought,
I don't have to keep following this thought like I normally would and return your attention to your breathing.
And again,
Your mind will wander many,
Many times and that's okay.
Each time you notice your mind has wandered,
You're practicing awakening to becoming the observer of your mind rather than lost in it.
You can always return your attention to this breath,
To this new present moment,
Always unfolding,
Always changing.
Again you can add a visualization if it's helpful,
So keeping your attention on your breath in the background,
Imagine yourself floating on a cloud looking out at a clear blue sky with the sun shining in front of you and imagining that you can let your thoughts pass by in front of you like clouds passing through the sky.
You don't need to engage or interact with your thoughts,
Just noticing them as just thoughts that will come and go,
Letting them pass by like clouds,
Always in the background as your breath and your awareness.
And your mind will wander many times and that's okay.
Again each time you catch your mind wandering,
You can notice this is just a thought,
I don't have to keep following this thought like I normally would,
And gently return your attention to your breath and the blue sky in front of you,
Letting the thoughts pass by like clouds.
Okay And just as the sunlight effortlessly fills the sky,
Notice that your awareness encompasses both your breath and the spaciousness around you.
And again,
Each time you notice your mind has wandered,
You can tell yourself this is just a thought and shift your awareness from being lost inside the cloud to watching it And as we bring this meditation to a close for today,
We can come to notice how the clouds will always come and go.
We don't have to make them go away,
We just want to become the observer and notice their impermanence.
We can notice how our thoughts will come and go,
Our feelings will come and go,
Situations will come and go,
Other people's reactions will come and go.
All will pass by through the field of awareness,
But your breath and your awareness are always here.
The sun and the blue sky are always here in the background,
Even when you feel lost in a cloud.
There is always a calm and a spaciousness that exists that everything else passes through.
So taking any feeling of calm with you,
You can return your attention to your breath here in this room.
You can feel your feet on the floor right now,
The earth holding up your chair and the chair holding you up and returning your attention to the room.
You can gently open your eyes when you're ready.
