Any one of your senses can be used in meditation. For example, you could use the sense of proprioception, awareness of your body like awareness of where your seat meets the chair, or the sensation of your breath. You could use sound, listening to your breath, or the sound of birds outside. You can also use sight. While traditionally, meditation is done with the eyes closed or the gaze downward, focusing on one visual object is a form of meditation.
This week I invite you to take a 5 minute pause. Try to find a quiet space where you won’t be disturbed. Set a timer for 5 minutes, and sit or lie on your back.
Get comfortable. You may choose to close your eyes, or gaze just in front of you.
For the next few minutes there is nothing you need to do, nowhere you need to be.
Thoughts can be overwhelming in meditation and in life. You may begin to believe your mind is your thoughts. But this is an illusion. Your thoughts obscure the true essence of your mind, a clear, calm place beneath your thoughts.
Guided Audio Meditation – Appreciate the Little Things
Appreciation of the little things requires being aware of them in each moment. It’s easy to miss the daily moments in your life, distracted by thoughts about the future, or worrying about something that may happen in the future. In this meditation, take a few minutes to use your senses to tune into, and appreciate these little moments.
Any one of your senses can be used as an object of meditation. In this meditation, I will use the sense of proprioception, noticing where your body is in space and the sensations of parts of your body as you mentally scan them.
A beginner’s mind is a mind that is empty of expectation, preconceived ideas, or judgment. Instead, it is a mind full of curiosity. Like a small child witnessing something for the first time, it is full of wonder. Adopting a beginner’s mind is looking at something with fresh eyes as if you have never seen it before.
The goal of this practice is to detach your awareness from the “thinker” and observe by becoming the witness. The witness lives in the heart space, in Yoga considered the seat of wisdom.
Loving-kindness, metta meditation, is a form of meditation that connects to the felt sense of your heart. In this meditation, you create a sense of love and peace.
For a new meditator, the hardest part is focusing your attention, and not getting lost in distractions like your thoughts or distractions around you. Meditation starts with training the brain to concentrate or focus on one object.
