This meditation will focus on body sensations,
First with a tour through various qualities and flavors of sensation,
Followed with a very specific labeling technique that quickly develops concentration,
Sensory clarity,
And agility leading to a more flexible presence.
So finding a comfortable position,
Let your body settle and bring your awareness to your body and get a sense in this moment of the volume of space your body takes,
The shape of your body,
The density,
It will be solid in parts,
Liquid in parts,
Some parts will be heavier than others,
You'll have sensations of proprioception that tell you the position of your body in the space at this time.
Notice the quality of sensations,
Maybe tingly,
Warm,
Cool,
Tight,
Spreading,
Interesting,
There may be movement,
It may be pleasant or unpleasant,
Or neutral,
Just notice,
Explore,
The way a four-year-old explores the world,
As if you've never really checked out these sensations before.
You'll have touch sensations of how your body comes in contact with the world,
How the world comes in contact with your body,
Like the pressure of your body on the chair or cushion,
Feet,
Legs,
Hands,
Arms,
Maybe your hands are resting on your lap,
You will feel that pressure of that contact from the perspective of the hand and from the perspective of the leg,
Your tongue in your mouth,
Your lips,
Clothes on the skin,
Might be different textures,
Different pressures,
Air on the skin,
Temperature,
Humidity,
Movement,
There will be sensations connected to the functioning of the body,
Like the breath,
Sensations connected to the breathing process are commonly used for focus and meditation,
But just for the moment,
Check out where you feel your breath right now,
Do you feel it in the torso,
Do you feel the movement of air through the nostrils,
Coming in cooler,
Leaving warmer,
Feel the body expanding and contracting,
There's a rhythm,
There's movement.
Maybe you can detect your heartbeat or pulse.
And the place where we feel the pulse the most may not be anywhere near the chest.
Just notice if you can detect that subtle rhythm,
Which is a different rhythm than that of the breath.
We have different rhythms and movements in our body,
Especially connected to body functioning.
The digestive system may have some movement sensations associated with it at this moment.
If you're hungry,
Full,
Thirsty or satiated,
There will be corresponding sensations.
The elimination system.
Some people can feel circulation of the blood in the body.
Just tune into any sensations that are associated with the functioning of the body.
You may have physical discomfort.
If so,
See if you can tune into whatever sensations are presented with a kind of interest,
Exploring the location,
The boundaries,
The texture,
If there's movement,
The shifting patterns of sensation within a sensation.
And you may have sensations in your body that are emotional in nature,
However subtle,
Tensions and pressures of remnants of or habits of unpleasant emotions like irritation,
Anxiety,
Sadness,
Embarrassment,
Or energy and spreading warmth of pleasant emotional sensations like gratitude,
Compassion,
Humor.
If you have any sensations that are emotional in nature,
You don't have to identify what emotion a sensation is connected to.
We often have many emotions present at one time,
With certain ones kind of rising to the top at moments or getting stronger.
But you could just tune into the sensation separate from the identification of what causes it,
In terms of either the story or even in terms of what flavor of emotion it is.
You may have a lot of clarity about exactly what flavor of emotion it is.
And that's fine,
That's good,
But not necessary.
Just treat any sensation in the body as something to check out,
To tune into.
Where is it?
What's the volume,
The shape,
The texture?
Where are the boundaries?
What is their movement?
And there may be sensations that are movement,
Like energy,
Flow,
Spreading,
Collapsing,
Vibration,
Effervescence,
Or undulatory,
Wave-like movement.
And with these sensations,
As well as all the sensations that we've just pointed out,
If there is ever any movement of any kind,
Always allow the sensation to move however it wants,
If it wants to spread,
Let it.
If it wants to collapse or disappear,
Let it.
No need to control or attempt to control any sensation.
By allowing it to move,
You're helping a natural processing,
Digesting.
So all the sensations that we've just noticed,
Open to,
Are all part of body space.
This volume of the body is filled with these sensations and maybe more that you haven't noticed yet.
So for this technique,
You allow your awareness to freely float in this body space among any or all of these sensations.
Freely float means that you passively allow your awareness to be drawn to a sensation in your body,
Whether physical,
Emotional,
Or energetic.
If you're drawn to more than one sensation at a time,
Just pick one to rest your awareness on and then label the location of that sensation,
Like knee,
Face,
Chest,
And so on.
It can be a tiny spot that you zoom into,
Like a fingernail,
Or it can be a whole area that you zoom out and cover,
Like your leg or the right side of your body.
The labels will be something like this.
Arm.
Belly.
Face.
Knee.
And so forth.
Now notice that I said the label in a matter-of-fact tone,
Which is important so that no matter what's happening,
Whether you're in physical pain or you're bored or you're entertained,
Always keep the matter-of-fact tone.
This is important for encouraging and evoking equanimity.
If you're new to practice or need to develop concentration quickly,
Try vocal labeling,
Where you say the label out loud.
That way,
If the mind wanders,
Having missed a label,
That will stop the rhythm of labeling instantly,
Waking you up and bringing you back to the present moment.
Once you say the label,
Then allow your awareness to soak into that sensation.
Notice something new about it that you didn't notice when you first looked.
Then,
After a moment,
Either allow your awareness to be pulled to a new sensation,
Where you label and soak,
Or if that sensation is louder,
Like with discomforts or emotions,
Or if it's more interesting,
Like has energy or pleasant emotion,
Then you can stay at that same sensation except for this label,
You look at it from a different side than you did last time,
Or maybe move more deeply into it.
So,
In doing this technique,
You will have a series of momentary samadhis that will add up to a momentum of concentration.
You will always be either soaking into a sensation,
Or you will be easily and instantly letting go of a sensation so that you can soak into another one.
So,
For the next few minutes,
Let's try the technique of noting body locations,
Allowing your awareness to freely float in body space.
Your awareness is passively being pulled to a sensation,
You label the location,
Soak into it,
After a moment,
Allow the awareness to let go and find a new sensation to label the location and soak into,
Or you can stay at the same sensation,
Getting to know it better.
And again,
The labels will be in a matter of fact tone,
Like chest,
Foot,
Face,
And so on.
Continue with your own labels.
Your pacing of labels will vary depending on your concentration.
If you're easily distracted,
Allow the labels to be closer together so it leaves less time between labels for the mind to wander,
But not so quick as to be frenetic.
If your concentration has settled in and is quite strong,
You might like having a little more space between labels to really soak into and explore the sensation,
Giving a richer experience.
Both are optimal and simply gears you can pick for your situation.
So find the pace and rhythm that works best for you.
Labeling location of body sensations.
And again,
The labels will be in a matter of fact tone,
Like chest,
Foot,
Face,
And so on.
Label,
Soak in,
And move to a new sensation.
Find your own rhythm.
Find your own rhythm.
And again,
The labels will be in a matter of fact tone,
Like chest,
Foot,
Face,
And so on.
If there is a part of the body that you have not yet explored,
See what sensations you have found.
Good.
Keep labeling,
Soaking.
Moving on.
Labeling,
Soaking,
Letting go,
And moving on.
Remember to keep the labels in a matter of fact tone.
Saying them out loud will increase concentration quite quickly.
Or saying them to yourself in your head.
If you're in a situation where saying them out loud would disturb others,
You could always move your lips,
Saying the words to yourself silently.
Or if your concentration is good,
You have the option of dropping the labels,
But continue the rhythm of noting and soaking.
Note and soak for the next few minutes.
Good.
Good.
Now allow your awareness to circulate in the left side of your body,
Noting sensations on the left side,
Noting with or without labels and soaking.
Now notice sensations on the right side of the body.
Now notice sensations on the right side of the body.
Now notice sensations on the right side of the body.
Now allow your awareness to notice sensations on the front half of your body.
Now explore sensations on the back half of your body.
Now let your awareness circulate,
Exploring sensations on the front half of your body.
Now let your awareness circulate,
Exploring sensations on the lower half of your body.
Move now to the upper half of your body.
Now allowing this momentum of noting and soaking to continue,
Open up and allow your awareness to circulate in the whole body.
But now let go of any labeling or needing to move awareness with any kind of rhythm and just allow your awareness to float in body space.
Now let go of any labeling or needing to move awareness with any kind of rhythm and just allow your awareness to float in body space.
The momentum of the practice we've been doing may take over naturally and you may find yourself naturally noting and soaking.
Or the awareness may just want to rest,
Maybe holding all of body space and awareness.
Maybe the boundaries are soft.
And just allow your awareness to float in body space.
Now let go of any labeling or needing to move awareness with any kind of rhythm and just allow your awareness to float in body space.
Now take a nice deep pleasurable breath in and a big sigh out.
And allow with that release a letting go.
And notice what happened during this meditation for you.
Were there periods where you were especially concentrated?
Did you have more sensory clarity about any body sensations?
Did you find a rhythm of dropping into connect and then letting go and moving on that worked for you?
This is a technique you can stop and do on a dime during the day for just three to five labels to help ground you and bring you into the present moment with acceptance.
So now allow whatever benefits from this meditation have developed to continue as you make a slow and gentle transition from formal eyes closed practice to being present,
Grounded and focused in your life.
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