Relax Your Brain (11-23-20)

Have your eyes open or closed at any point during the meditation and just sit comfortably,

No particular posture you need.

We are going to gradually approach our thoughts and this idea of relaxing the brain.

But first,

I just want you to connect to your breath.

We're actually going to use the breath to practice the approach and the methods we're going to use for our thoughts.

So don't worry about your thoughts at the moment.

And just hold the breath in the centre or the foreground of your awareness.

I don't like the idea of concentrating,

So I don't want you to concentrate on the breath.

And by that I mean I don't want you to exclude anything else from your awareness or to attempt to focus just on the breath.

It's just about holding the breath at the centre of your awareness and allowing everything else that's happening to happen around the breath.

So are the sounds and thoughts,

Feelings,

They're all still going on,

I'm still aware of them.

I'm just returning to the breath at the centre and feeling the breath in the body and allowing everything else to happen around the breath.

And the invitation is to simply allow the breath to be as it is,

As you find it in your body right now.

So not making any effort at all to change the breath.

It really doesn't matter if you're breathing fast or slow,

Deep or shallow,

Regular or irregular.

But I'm choosing to be more aware of the breath.

And really feel the physical sensations of the breath in the body.

So I feel the sensations of expansion as I breathe in.

Notice where that's happening in the body and exactly what it feels like.

And as I breathe out,

I feel that physical sensation of release and contraction,

Letting go of the breath.

So I'm just allowing the breath to be as it is,

To come and go,

To enter the body and leave the body in its own time.

And allowing everything else just to happen as it is around the breath.

So the idea is to allow your breath to flow freely.

And you might get to a point where you feel like a slight change where you don't feel I am breathing,

But I am being breathed,

Or the body is being breathed by the breath.

So I'm allowing the breath in and I'm allowing the breath to go.

I'm not making any effort to breathe.

The breath happens automatically,

Naturally,

Spontaneously.

The breath is doing all the work and I'm just allowing and watching and feeling the sensations in the body as the breath enters and leaves,

Rises and falls.

So I allow the breath to continue just as it is.

And the invitation now is to take this same approach,

The same attitude,

From the breath to the thoughts.

So now we choose to hold our thoughts in the centre of our awareness.

Again we're not concentrating on our thoughts,

We're not trying to exclude anything else from our awareness.

We allow everything else to continue,

The breath,

Sounds,

Sensations,

Emotions.

We're just choosing to hold the thoughts in the centre or the foreground of our awareness,

Paying particular attention and interest in our thoughts.

And just as with the breath,

We're not going to try and change the thoughts in any way at all.

It doesn't matter if the thoughts are fast or slow,

Deep or shallow,

Focused or chaotic and random,

Positive or negative.

It really doesn't matter what you're thinking.

All we're doing is holding the flow of thoughts in our awareness.

So just as with the breath,

Allow the thoughts to flow.

As each breath comes,

We allow the breath in and then we release it so we're ready for the next breath.

In that way the breath flows.

So do the same with our thoughts,

Allow that next thought in,

Into the mind,

Into the awareness.

And then let it go so we're ready for the next thought to come.

And by allowing each thought to come and go,

We can get a sense of the thoughts flowing freely through the mind.

Just as the breath is flowing freely through the body.

So really choosing to give our thoughts space and freedom and time to do whatever they want to do.

Completely releasing the thoughts to be and do as they will.

And just as relaxing the body can help with the breath,

A relaxed body allows the breath in without restriction and out without restriction.

So let's try the same with the thoughts and see if we can relax the brain and see if that allows the thoughts to flow even more easily,

Even more freely.

If I asked you to relax your hands,

Your arms,

To relax your feet and your legs,

That doesn't take effort.

It's not complicated.

You'll have a good sense of how to relax the body.

And how to enjoy that relaxation response in the body.

We simply bring our awareness to the part of the body we want to relax and have that feeling of release and letting go.

So bringing our attention to the head.

Initially becoming aware of the face.

All the many muscles across the face.

Around the jaw and the mouth.

Around the eyes and the forehead.

Allow all these muscles and allow the face to relax.

Now become aware of the scalp and the hair on the top,

Back and sides of the head.

Notice any sensations on the surface of the head.

And relax.

Relax the scalp.

Relax the head.

Relax the skull.

And aware of any sensations inside the skull.

Any sensations from the brain.

And imagining the brain is just like a muscle in the body.

Just give yourself that permission right now to simply relax the brain.

Awareness plus letting go.

Feeling that relaxation response.

I sometimes find it helps to just imagine taking a tiny step back with my awareness with my attention.

So I'm just behind the body.

The body is just in front of me.

So the back of the head is just in front of my awareness.

Then again I allow the whole head,

Face and brain to relax.

So I let go.

Feeling any thoughts just to continue to flow freely.

Noticing how you don't need to make any effort to create a thought.

They'll just come completely on their own.

So just allow them in and let them go.

Free flowing thoughts.

Free flowing breath.

The breath flowing freely through a relaxed body.

The thoughts flowing freely through a relaxed brain.

So for the last couple of minutes maybe just choose to hold either the breath or the thoughts or maybe both in the foreground,

In the centre of your awareness.

Remembering to just allow everything else to continue as it is.

Keeping your awareness open.

And enjoy the free flowing thoughts and the relaxed body.

And enjoy the free flowing thoughts passing through the relaxed brain.

Accepting,

Allowing and letting go.

And enjoying the free flowing thoughts passing through the relaxed brain.

OK,

So we'll bring the meditation to a close there.

OK.

Thank you.