Meditation
Step One - Body and Breath
Every meditation tradition begins with daily practices that help to focus a scattered mind. The most common way to start is by focusing on a single object that is always with you: the movement of the breath in the body.
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Key Information
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LENGTH: eight minutes
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FREQUENCY: once a day for six days out of the seven
Settling
Settle into a comfortable position:
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If sitting, make sure your back is straight but comfortable
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If sitting on a chair, have your feet flat on the floor with your legs uncrossed
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If lying down, allow your legs to be uncrossed and palms open to the ceiling.
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If you have a disability that means that sitting in this way or lying on your back is uncomfortable, find a posture which best allows you to maintain your sense of being fully awake for each moment.
Allow your eyes to close or lower your gaze, whichever feels the most comfortable.
BRINGING AWARENESS TO THE BODY
Bring your awareness to physical sensations by focusing your attention on the sensations of touch in the body where it is in contact with the floor and with whatever you are sitting or lying on. Spend a few moments exploring these sensations.
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Now focusing your attention on your feet, starting with the toes, expand the 'spotlight of attention' so it slowly takes in all of the physical sensations you become aware of in both feet, moment by moment. Spend a few moments noticing how sensations in the area arise and dissolve in awareness. If there are no sensations in this region of the body, simply register a blank. This is perfectly fine - you are not trying to make sensations happen - you are simply registering what is already here when you attend.
​Now, expand your attention to take in the rest of both legs for a few moments, then up to your shoulders; then the left arm; then the right arm; then the neck and head.
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​Spend a minute or two resting in the awareness of the whole body. See if it is possible to allow your body and its sensations to be just as you find them. Explore how it is to let go of the tendency to want things to be a certain way. Even one brief moment of seeing how things are, without wanting to change anything, can be profoundly nourishing.
FOCUSING ON THE SENSATIONS OF BREATHING
Now bring your awareness to the breath as it moves in and out of the body at the abdomen. Notice the changing patterns of physical sensations in this region of the body as the breath moves in and out. It may help to place your hand here for a few breaths and feel the abdomen rising and falling.
As best you can, follow closely with your attention, the changing physical sensations throughout your breathing pattern (breathing in and breathing out).
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There is no need to try to control your breathing in any way at all - simply let the breath breathe itself.
DEALING SKILFULLY WITH MIND WANDERING
You may discover that it's very easy to become distracted, as our minds tend to move from thought to thought. This simple realisation is a crucial step along the road to cultivating mindful awareness.
When you practise, and your mind wanders, you may discover something of profound importance. All the thoughts, feelings and memories that flow across your mind will become apparent and will be offering up possibilities to determine if you find them useful or interesting in some way. This is what your mind does - it offers up possibilities to startle you. You can then choose whether to accept these thoughts or not, but all too often we forget this and we confuse the mind's thoughts with reality and end up identify ourselves far too closely with our minds.
After a moment or two of clear awareness, you may find that these thoughts have returned. When this happens, the task is the same: just notice your thoughts as thoughts, and gently bring your awareness back to the breath, noticing any resistance to letting go, or a continuing wish to engage with them. You might like to acknowledge them in your head by naming them- 'Ah, here's thinking', 'here's planning' or 'here's worrying' - before returning your awareness back to the breath. You have not failed. On the contrary, you have taken the first step back to full awareness.