[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, welcome to find your daily calm.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your daily dose of calm.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Selgeston.
[SPEAKER_00]: To begin this meditation, please find a comfortable place, free from distractions.
[SPEAKER_00]: Throughout the duration of this session, and make a commitment to still this.
[SPEAKER_00]: And lastly, please be mindful that you should not be driving or operating any heavy equipment while listening to this meditation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Relaxing the drifting mind with a home base.
[SPEAKER_00]: Please find a sitting position that allows you to be alert.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're spine erect, but not rigid, and also relaxed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now close your eyes and rest your hands in an effortless way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Take a few moments to scan through your body.
[SPEAKER_00]: and whenever possible, soften and release obvious areas of physical tension.
[SPEAKER_00]: We begin the practice of coming back by establishing our home base.
[SPEAKER_00]: While there are many possible anchors, such as sound or sensations throughout the body, the most common and the one we'll be exploring here is the breath.
[SPEAKER_00]: Please breathe naturally, and simply notice where the breath is easiest to detect, and where the breath also feels pleasant, or at least neutral.
[SPEAKER_00]: You might be paying attention to how the breath feels as it flows in and out of your nose.
[SPEAKER_00]: You might feel the touch of your breath, around your nostrils, or on your upper lip.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or perhaps you feel the movement of your chest, or the rising and falling of your abdomen.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or perhaps you feel your whole body like a balloon, expanding with an in-breath, deflating with the out-breath.
[SPEAKER_00]: Take some moments to bring your attention to the sensations of breathing in one of these areas.
[SPEAKER_00]: a relaxed attentiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no need to control the breath, rather, since you're receiving the breath much like you'd listen to sound.
[SPEAKER_00]: With a relaxed awareness, discover what the breath is really like, as a changing experience of sensations.
[SPEAKER_00]: This life breath is your home base, a place to rest and be aware.
[SPEAKER_00]: so in these next moments, simply relax as the breath comes in, noticing what it's like, and relax with the exhale, letting go, and again noticing the immediate experience of sensations.
[SPEAKER_00]: Noticing where your attention is,
[SPEAKER_00]: You might find that your mind has drifted off into thoughts.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is completely natural.
[SPEAKER_00]: The mind is conditioned to move off into thinking about the future or the past.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you become aware of thinking, you might use a soft and friendly mental note.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just say thinking, thinking, and then pause and simply relax, open the attention again, aware of the sounds around you, relaxing your body again, feeling the aliveness in the body.
[SPEAKER_00]: relax your heart without any judgment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just allow yourself to gently return again, to the inflow and outflow of the breath.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let the breath be an intimate friend, a home-based that reconnects you with your own presence.
[SPEAKER_00]: The background sounds perhaps of a passing car, the wind, a bird flying by.
[SPEAKER_00]: You might feel sensations of warmth or coolness, whatever is in the background can be there without drawing your way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just continue to rest with a breath, to relax with a breath.
[SPEAKER_00]: when you drift off into thought.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you discover that the mind has drifted again, simply pause, relax, open the attention.
[SPEAKER_00]: Without any judgment, gently come back into this moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just to remember the thoughts are not the enemy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rather, you're developing the capacity to recognize when thoughts are happening, without getting lost in the storyline.
[SPEAKER_00]: Each time you notice that you drifted or noticed you've gotten lost, it's an opportunity to strengthen your muscle of remembering of again arriving here now.
[SPEAKER_00]: As you notice the mind getting quieter, you might sense the peace that arises when you relax even more, and immerse your entire awareness into the inflow, and outflow of the breath.
[SPEAKER_00]: Reving in, know that you are breathing in.
[SPEAKER_00]: be aware of the beginnings and endings of each breath fully here, awake at home in presence.
[SPEAKER_00]: The poet Wu Men writes 10,000 flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter.
[SPEAKER_00]: If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things,
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the best season of your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can practice this meditation of coming back informally, as a way of quieting and collecting your mind at any time of the day.
[SPEAKER_00]: Simply bring a full-each-chental attention to the breath, relaxing with the in-breath, relaxing with the out-breath, and then continue.
[SPEAKER_00]: continue on with your activities.
[SPEAKER_00]: As a reminder for some people, the breath is not the best anchor or home base.
[SPEAKER_00]: It may be hard to detect and connect with or in some way unpleasant.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if that is the case for you, you might let the play of changing sounds be your anchor.
[SPEAKER_00]: or perhaps just the sensations in your hands.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's fine to experiment and find what sensory present home base most helps you to settle and quiet the mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: May you become, may you be at ease, and may peace be upon you.
[SPEAKER_00]: This mindfulness exercise was brought to you by MindfulnessExercises.com Through the kindness of Sean Fargo, may you become may you be at ease and may peace be upon you.