Get yourself into a nice comfortable seat,
Close those eyes and begin to breathe gently through the nose,
Much like we always do in these practices.
And I know I say it routinely but really try to focus on those key elements before we go anywhere because they are essential to get right.
Make sure you're comfortable,
Make sure the eyes are closed and make sure that breathing is under your control.
As you do so I'm going to start to explain the session to you.
Marcus Aurelius famously encouraged us to seek refuge in our own minds instead of external places and things.
He told us how our own souls get dyed by the color of our thoughts.
Such good line that.
In order to be able to live in peace we need to make sure our internal world is peaceful and so I'd like to invite you to do that with me now.
Your mind is gonna rest on your breath which just means that you can just enjoy breathing and thinking about your breathing.
This isn't a focused meditation,
I'm not insisting that you only think about the breath and nothing else.
Instead it's a free flowing meditation.
So you just take a breath in and take note of all its parts and then when you exhale you take note of all its parts but you just are loosely thinking about the breath.
You notice where you feel the inhale and the exhale,
You feel your lungs and your belly,
Just open awareness.
So now with that same level of observation I want you to turn your mind's eye to any thoughts that come up.
Unlike other meditations where we try retrain our focus back on the breath,
This time I want you to indulge yourself in the thoughts that come up.
I just want you to notice the thoughts that arise.
You don't have to force them up,
Just notice them.
As a thought comes into your mind you're just going to do a couple of things.
One,
I want you to name the type of thought it is and that is totally up to you.
Your choice,
Dealer's choice to name it and claim it.
I want you to have a relevant category to put on it or name for it.
I want you to name it and I want you to think about how it represents you and if you're happy about how this thought belongs to you.
So as an example,
Often when I do this exercise I start thinking about some chores so I may name the thought chore and then I think is this something I want occupying my mind or something that is okay with me and you know what it's okay because I like a tidy house so that's fine.
But every now and then other thoughts come up,
Thoughts of anger towards others,
Jealousy,
Feelings of inadequacy and for those ones I recognize that that's not a thought I want to hold on to and so I breathe it out.
I would like you to do the same.
So rest your mind on your breath,
Just observing and then allow whatever thoughts to come up and then name it and decide if it stays or if it goes.
If no thoughts show up just enjoy that breathing.
Remembering that these thoughts dictate your reality so be really deliberate about which ones you want to hold on to and which ones you want to let go of.
It can be useful to think of yourself as a keen gardener,
Watering the thoughts that you want and weeding out the ones that you don't want.
Again no pressure to actually think about anything,
Either resting your mind on the breath or checking out the thoughts that come up.
Now you can start to bring your mind back deliberately to your breath and how it feels and just noticing how you have this capacity at any point in your life.
This is just a practice but as you go out into the world today really be discerning about the types of thoughts you let in,
Type of thoughts that you hang on to.
By letting go of thoughts that don't serve you and hanging on to thoughts that are in your interest you can make your brain a beautiful place.
Remember our soul gets dyed by the color of our thoughts.
Be careful with those thoughts.
Until next time.
Namaste.
