Hello,
My name is Stephen Proctor.
During this mindfulness exercise we'll be using a technique to watch the flickering of attention towards thoughts and sounds.
This is done as an exercise,
A training for MIDL mindfulness in daily life.
Start out by taking a meditation posture.
Now gently fold one hand in the other and sit it in your lap.
Be aware of the touch of those hands.
Now close your eyes over lightly.
Relax your jaw and place your tongue behind your two top teeth.
Now gently take a deep breath in and as you're breathing out just allow yourself to relax.
Now start to be aware of the feeling of just sitting or lying down.
Be aware of the whole of your body.
Start to notice the feeling of heaviness in your body and also be aware of the place where your body touches the chair or the floor.
Anchor your awareness in the feeling of heaviness and touch.
Now gently bring your attention to the place where your hands are touching each other.
Start to notice the sensations involved in touch such as pressing,
Hardness or softness,
Warmth or coolness.
Now we're going to set up the conditions to watch the flickering of the mind,
The flickering of attention.
I want you to gently keep the touch of your hands in mind.
Relax and see if you can observe the movements of your attention.
Did you notice your attention move?
If it's shifted from the hands come back again,
Reestablish your awareness in the touch,
The hardness,
The softness.
Now relax and see if you can notice a little flickering,
The movement of your attention.
Has your attention moved?
Do not focus on where your attention is moved to but rather see if you can notice the movement itself.
Reestablish your awareness within your hands,
The touch,
Hardness,
Softness.
Relax your mental grip on your hands and see if you can observe these flickerings of the mind.
Has your attention moved?
Now bring your awareness into the whole of your body.
We're going to do the same exercise but through observing the touch of the breath at the tip of the nose.
Again,
Do not try to hold on to the breath but instead notice the little movements of attention away from it.
Now gently bring your awareness around the top of your lip,
The tip of your nose.
Relax and allow your breathing to move freely.
Start to notice that when the breath comes in you may feel movement or coolness there.
Start to notice that as your breath goes out you may feel movement or warmth there.
Tune into the changing sensations of the breath as it comes in and as it goes out.
Now relax your mental grip on the breath at the tip of the nose.
And see if you can notice all the little movements,
Flickers of attention away from your breathing.
Did you notice little movements of attention to thoughts or sounds?
Now gently come back to the breathing at the tip of the nose.
Tune into the sensations of the breath as it comes in and as it goes out.
Now relax and see if you can observe those little movements of attention away from the breathing.
Did you notice little movements of attention to thoughts or sounds?
Now bring your awareness back into your body.
Ground your awareness within your body in the heaviness and touch.
Ground your awareness within your body in the heaviness and touch.
Widen your attention,
Be aware of any sounds around you.
Hear them but don't listen to them.
Feel the sounds to come into you.
Now when you're ready,
You can gently open your eyes.
Be aware of seeing,
Be aware of being in the room.
Take care and goodbye.
