(soft music)
- In this guided meditation practice,
we'll be learning how to work with distractions
during meditation practice.
So, go ahead and find your comfortable seat.
Again, you can be sitting anywhere, on a chair, on a couch,
on a cushion, on the ground,
or lying down if your body needs it.
And then when you're ready, just allow your eyes to close.
And we can start just by taking a few deep breaths
to settle the body,
breathing in,
(narrator inhales)
and breathing out.
(narrator exhales)
And one more time, breathing in,
(narrator inhales)
and breathing out.
(narrator exhales)
And then allowing your breath to return
to its natural rhythm,
reminding yourself that there's no need
to control the breath in any way in meditation.
Particularly in mindfulness,
we just want to practice letting things be as they are.
So, this starts with the breath,
just letting the breath be natural
and inviting your body to soften and relax,
allowing yourself to really sink into your seat,
feeling the weight of gravity pull you down gently,
and perhaps also connecting with the feeling
of the seat beneath you.
Seeing if you can connect with the sensations,
the pressure and the weight and the support.
Just noticing where your butt touches the seat
or the cushion.
And then bringing your awareness onto the breath,
using the breath as a way to really tap
into the present moment,
and just noticing the rising and falling,
the movement of the breath.
And see if you can stay curious about the breath.
It's easy to think that we know what the breath is like
and to just sewn out,
but really see if you can be curious
about what does the breath feel like in this moment.
Understanding that each moment is unique.
So, in this meditation,
we'll be learning to work with distractions.
And so, we can remind ourselves of this quote,
that which gets in the way of your task is your task.
So, whatever captures our attention,
whatever pulls our attention away from the breath,
we can allow that to be the new object of meditation.
So, if we notice we're getting distracted by a sound
in the environment,
just allowing your attention to go to sounds
and to practice mindful listening.
So, just opening up for a moment
and being aware of the sounds around you,
noticing the sounds outside the room
and the sounds inside the room.
Just paying attention to the raw vibration of the sounds.
And when there's no more sounds,
you can bring your attention back to the breath.
If you are noticing that you are getting distracted
by some sensation in the body,
like an itch or some numbness or pain,
just allow your attention to go to that spot
and feel the physical sensations,
wherever your attention has been pulled.
Wherever your attention goes,
bring your awareness along with it.
There is no need to fight your awareness
or fight your attention.
Whatever pulls your attention from the breath.
Just allow yourself to be aware of where it has gone,
tapping into the raw sensations, the raw experience,
whether it's sounds or physical sensations in the body,
or thoughts.
Wherever your attention goes,
allow that to be the object of your meditation.
And then when the sensation or the thought
or the sound is no longer there,
you can bring your attention back to the breath.
So, just using the breath as an anchor,
keeping you rooted in the present moment.
If a particular thought keeps distracting you,
just allow yourself to be aware of the thought.
And then bringing your attention back to the breath
whenever you need it,
noticing the rising and falling,
staying with the subtle sensations of movement.
And to end this meditation, you can take a deep breath.
So, breathing in deeply and breathing out slowly.
(narrator exhales)
And in your own time, allowing your eyes to open,
allowing yourself to come back to the room,
noticing how you feel.
So, great work in learning how to deal with distractions
in meditation.
Now, there is nothing that can stop you from meditating.
Tomorrow we'll be working with strong emotions
and how to deal with strong emotions in meditation.
So, I'll see you back here tomorrow for day 10.