Mindfulness For Grounding, Calm, And Spaciousness

Before settling in to your meditation posture,

Taking a moment to feel into your body and sense if it wants to move or stretch before coming to rest.

And settling into a posture that helps you to be comfortable and alert.

You can be seated,

Standing,

Lying down,

Walking.

For the sake of simplicity,

I'll refer to the sitting posture throughout this meditation,

So just adapting the instructions if you're not in a sitting posture.

And giving yourself permission to come to rest,

To shift out of doing and becoming and into being.

And allowing your senses to be open to your environment,

The sights and sounds around you.

So you might take a look around the room that you're in and taking in the soundscape of your environment.

Receiving the sounds that are here.

Arriving right here,

Where you are in this moment,

In this body.

Eyes can be closed or open with a soft downward gaze.

Whatever helps you to be here and now.

And welcoming the touch of air on your skin.

Noticing the temperature of the air on your skin.

And the contact between your body and furniture or clothing.

Aware of sensations where your body is touching the earth.

The force of gravity acting upon you.

Feeling yourself belonging to the earth,

Sitting on the earth,

Feeling yourself belonging to the earth,

Sitting on the earth,

Supported by the earth.

Sensing the heaviness of the earth element in your bones.

Strong spine supporting you.

And a soft front moving with the breath like ocean waves flowing to shore and receding back out.

Strong solid mountain back.

Soft ocean waves front.

Also aware of the nourishing light of the sun above you.

Even if it's blocked by clouds,

It's still there.

Right now,

There are so many other places you could be or activities you could do.

But you chose to be here.

What is it that draws you to meditating,

To being present?

And you might experience your intention or aspiration as the sun overhead.

Overhead and you're sitting here grounded and also rising upwards toward the light of your intention or aspiration.

Oriented to what nourishes,

What fuels you and inspires you.

Sitting tall,

Rooted in the earth and reaching up towards the sun.

Lengthening through the crown.

At the same time,

Grounded and uplifted.

Meditation is the practice of coming home to the here and now.

So letting go of the need to accomplish anything,

To figure anything out.

Lay your burdens down,

Like taking off your shoes at the door.

Lay your burdens down,

Like taking off your shoes at the door.

This is time to give yourself the gift of refuge,

Restoration.

And now finding the breath.

Listening to the music in the breath.

Much like nature's music at the edge of the ocean.

Attuning to the sound of the ocean inside you.

Taking a few deeper breaths to calm the nervous system.

Deep breath in.

And a long breath out.

Allowing the exhalation to be longer than the inhalation.

Feeling the exhale softening down through the length of the body.

Feeling inhalation and exhalation.

Inhaling a sense of lengthening upward.

Exhaling a sense of settling,

Grounding down,

Letting go.

Exhaling like a tree releasing to the ground the leaves it no longer needs.

Feeling the conversation between this breath and the earth's breath.

The conversation of all of the life forms on this planet breathing together.

Letting go of these deeper breaths.

And allowing the body to fall into a natural rhythm of breathing.

The breath like ocean waves coming in and going out.

Observing its natural rhythm like watching the waves on the shore.

Letting your attention rest in the ebb and the flow.

With every inhalation,

Letting awareness drop deeper inside.

Coming home to the majesty that is your inner space.

If you could describe your mind as a weather system,

What's here?

Welcoming the mind however it is,

Knowing it will change.

No weather,

Internal or external,

Stays the same.

So meeting this moment as it is.

Welcoming the energies of this moment as they are.

Dropping all resistance.

And if any resistance remains,

Breathing and making space for it.

Breathing space around it.

Allowing it to be here.

Opening to whatever kind of weather is here.

And noticing the energies of your heart in this moment.

What's it like?

Just staying with your impressions.

What waves of emotion are here in the heart space?

What waves of emotion are here in the heart space?

Or is it a quiet moment in the heart?

Feeling supported by the earth.

And by others who share the same experiences.

The same human emotions.

Who are breathing along with you.

Never breathing alone.

Can you experience the heart as an ocean that holds all of the waves?

Deep stillness beneath the waves.

Can you sense the space and quiet beneath the waves?

And now beginning to rotate your attention through your body.

While experiencing and welcoming the physical sensations that are present.

You might experience something or nothing at all.

You might experience something or nothing at all.

Which is okay.

Allowing your experience to be exactly as it is.

Letting go of thinking and simply welcoming sensation.

What is here to be known in this body?

Noticing any tension in the body.

And releasing any muscles that are not needed to keep you in your meditation posture.

Scanning through the body.

Releasing any unnecessary tension.

Relaxing the muscles in the face.

Releasing any lingering expression on the face.

You might raise and relax your eyebrows.

Softening the eyes.

Widening the gaze even if your eyelids are closed.

The tongue floats down from the roof of the mouth to fill the lower palate.

You might raise your shoulders towards your ears and let them fall back and down.

Softening the hands.

And if you notice any areas of tension or contraction still in the body,

Bringing the breath to those areas.

Caressing them with the gentle,

Tender breath.

Breathing in to these sensations and breathing out,

Relaxing,

Letting go.

Aware of the whole body sitting here,

Breathing.

To help yourself become more present,

It's useful to have some kind of anchor for attention.

You can think of it as a home base.

It might be the sensations of breathing.

Or if that's uncomfortable,

Other sensations in the body.

Or perhaps sounds.

Or maybe a supportive word or phrase or mantra.

Or if your eyes are open,

Maybe an image.

Maybe taking in the whole space you're in.

Or zooming in to a plant,

A flower,

Or something living.

Or you might have as an anchor a feeling,

Such as gratitude or love.

The important thing is that your anchor is something that helps you to stay present.

To keep it simple,

I'll refer to the breath as an anchor.

But please translate this to whatever anchor you're choosing to practice with.

And also adjusting the frame of your anchor so that it supports paying attention.

Widening the frame to include more.

Or narrowing it to something more particular.

If you're practicing with the breath,

You might focus on a particular area where you sense the breath in your body.

Such as the chest rising and falling.

Or widening awareness to be aware of your body as a whole as you breathe.

Or simply this area.

Or widening awareness to be aware of your body as a whole as you breathe.

Or simply this is in breath,

This is out breath.

Letting awareness rest in the sensations of breathing.

Living in the breath.

And if at any point you feel like you're spacing out,

Narrowing the frame.

Zooming in.

And now giving your attention to what's here in this moment.

Whatever anchor you've chosen.

And when attention drifts off into thought,

Fantasy,

Worry,

Wherever it goes.

And you notice that's happened.

That is a moment of mindfulness.

You're present again.

And letting the narrative or the thoughts of past or future go along their way.

Like watching clouds move through the vast sky of awareness.

Like leaves floating down a river.

Not floating away with the cloud or leaf.

But sitting here,

Solid,

Grounded,

Breathing.

Rerelaxing the body,

The face,

The hands.

And refocusing on your anchor.

Watching the comings and goings of experience through the lens of your anchor.

And I'll stop talking so you can simply practice.

Where is the mind?

If it's wandered off,

No worries.

Simply bringing it back.

We're practicing noticing the workings of the mind.

And bringing it back.

Each time you do this is like doing a rep with weights.

But here we are training the mind.

If you find that the mind is quite active,

You might give it a different job.

Bringing to mind what you're grateful for.

And having that be your home base to keep returning to when it wanders elsewhere.

Or staying with your chosen anchor.

And now allowing awareness to expand.

So a sense of awareness widening in all directions.

Shifting attention from your anchor to the sense of openness,

Vastness,

Boundlessness.

That you yourself are a part of.

Breathing as if through your heart.

Allowing your love and light to radiate outward.

And letting go.

Allowing your love and light to radiate outward in all directions.

Resting in the sense of a boundless heart.

Recognizing that this loving spaciousness is who you are.

Underneath all the waves of thoughts and emotions passing through.

Identifying with the vast ocean heart that can hold it all.

Rather than the waves of experience that come and go.

Now drawing upon the light of the sun above you.

Breathing in love and light.

Gratitude.

Something that delights the heart.

Breathing it into your heart.

And circulating it through your whole body.

And then exhaling.

Releasing stress.

Fears.

Other people's stuff.

Down into the earth.

To be composted by the earth.

And ending this meditation with some compassionate breathing.

Still inhaling for you.

A nourishing quality word or reminder.

Allowing it to fill your whole being.

And breathing out a caring wish for another being.

Maybe something like may your heart be touched by joy or peace.

Or another caring wish.

Breathing in for you.

And breathing out for another being.

Maybe for yourself.

Maybe for another.

Or others.

So ending with a few rounds of this kind of breathing.

And shifting out of this meditation.

By waking up the body.

Wiggling fingers.

Wiggling toes.

Stretching however your body wants to stretch.

And carrying this mindful loving awareness with you.

Into your day.

Thank you for practicing with me.

May our practice benefit all beings.