A taste of mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness meditation helps us learn how to regulate difficult emotions, and overcome stress and anger to achieve more peace of mind. This practice can serve as an “internal toolkit” that we carry with us every day and use to improve the way we live.
When we practice mindfulness meditation, it is important to know that we want to acknowledge whatever is arising into awareness and just let be…
So…Take a moment to congratulate yourself that you are dedicating some precious time right now for mindfulness meditation practice. May you know that this is an act of love…
Gradually bring your attention to the present moment and begin to focus on your breath, breathing normally and naturally. You can place your awareness either at the tip of your nose or upon your abdomen. If you’re focusing at the tip of the nose, feel the touch of the air as you breathe in and out… If you’re focusing on the abdomen, feel the belly expand on an inhalation and contract on an exhalation… As you breathe in, be aware that you are breathing in and as you breathe out be aware that you are breathing out… moment to moment…
Without any judgment, just watch the breath. There is nothing to figure out… there is no place to go… there is just being in the here and now, noticing the breath. Just living your life, one inhalation and one exhalation at a time. Breathing in, breathing out, watching each breath appear and disappear. Just breathing…
Now, releasing your awareness of the breath and bringing attention to the body, let yourself feel the sensations within, without any aversion or indulgence. Just acknowledging the multitude of varying sensations moment-to-moment.
If you come across areas in the body where there is tightness, allow it to soften, if possible. However, if the sensation remains and persists, then just let it be there, remaining and persisting, and observe the waves or resonating rings of sensations, just letting them flow wherever they need to go.
Try to have the mind be like a meteorologist, just watching the internal weather patterns without judgment, just being with the way things are… Sensations rise, sensations fall… watching them appear and disappear… just sensations.
Now releasing awareness of sensations and bringing attention to the mind: to thoughts and emotions. Observe the mind without any aversion or indulgence. Just acknowledging the multitude of varying mental formations moment-to-moment… Like lying on a field and watching the clouds float by… watching the mind in the same way… thoughts rise, thoughts fall, watching them appear and disappear… just thoughts.
Now releasing the awareness of the mind and bringing attention to hearing. Observe the sounds without any aversion or indulgence. Being aware of sound at its most basic, fundamental level. Because of the mind and the eardrum there is audibility. Be aware of sound at this level… just acknowledging the multitude of varying sounds internally or externally… moment-to-moment… sounds rise, sounds fall… watching them appear and disappear… just sounds.
Now coming back to the breath and feeling the whole body as you breathe in and out… feel the whole of the body rising upwards with an inhalation and falling downwards on an exhalation… Feeling the body as a whole… connected and whole…
Again congratulate yourself that you are dedicating some precious time right now for mindfulness meditation practice. May you know that this is an act of love.
More on Mindfulness Meditation can be found at:
Doing Your Time with Peace of Mind
Little Meditation Booklet to get you started
The Power of Meditation: Finding the Freedom Within
Attitudinal Foundation of Mindfulness
21 Ways to Reduce Stress During the Work Day
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
Online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reducation (MBSR) This meditation training course is 100% free, created by a fully certified MBSR instructor, and is based on the program founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Other types of meditation practices, psychological practices and other practices: