- [Instructor] This guided mediation is about
strengthening our awareness of the truth of impermanence
as a way of easing anxiety.
So before we begin, ask yourself,
so far today have I brought kind awareness to my thoughts?
To my heart, to my body?
And if you have not, that's okay,
you're doing it now.
Take a moment to reflect upon why you chose this topic
and notice right here and right now how you feel
in your body, how you feel in your belly,
your chest, or up in your head.
Are there any emotions present that you associate
with these physical feelings?
Are there any stories present?
And are these stories having a positive
or negative impact, just notice.
Remember that however you feel right now
there's many others, many others who feel the same way
that you do.
And remember too that as we increase our awareness
around impermanence in this topic of easing anxiety,
how you feel could change at any moment.
And then either now or again at the end of the meditation,
think about how your increased mindfulness
that you've learned here can apply
to your day to day life.
So easing anxiety by remembering impermanence.
All things change, even your anxiety will change.
And it's possible that it will change for the better.
So we'll work today with remembering this grace
that impermanence offers
with the following mindfulness exercise.
Find a quiet place, and once you can sit still
with your posture tall but your shoulders relaxed,
and if you feel safe closing your eyes,
you may, otherwise keep your eyes open
but soften your gaze.
Perhaps look down at the ground ahead of you.
And be sure to maintain a nice neutral posture
in your back and your neck.
Breathe gently and slowly in and out your nose.
And allow your energy to settle by spending some time
watching the breath.
Let yourself be fully present with each slow,
full breath in, and each slow full breath out.
Breathe in, breathe out.
And now think back to the earliest months of your life
when you were only a baby.
Go as far back as you'd like to.
Recall how different your body was then,
how tiny you were, how fragile you were.
Recall too how little you understood of the world.
There was a time when you could just barely
recognize colors and shapes.
And a time when you could not feed yourself.
A time when you could not stand or walk.
There was a time when you didn't know how to read or write.
And then as you grew, as you began
to make sense of the world,
recall all of the things you once believed
that you no longer believe are true.
Perhaps you believed in fictional cartoon characters
or you held a particularly childlike view of the world.
But then it changed.
There's very little of your body and your mind
that is exactly the same today as it was then.
And yet, you are still you.
Reflect back on the course of your life,
through later childhood and your early teenage years,
recall the physical changes you've gone through.
Recall how much you've learned.
And recall the changes to your world view.
So much has changed in your body
and so much has changed in your mind.
And yet you are still you.
And so return now to breath awareness.
Notice the continual movement of the breath.
Its constant flow, its continual exchange.
This exchange between breath in and breath out.
Notice all that is changing right here and right now.
The breath is a good place to start.
There's never one single moment in which breath
remains the same.
The inhale breath doesn't arrive toward the end,
lamenting the oncoming exhale.
The exhaled breath doesn't begin to empty
and then worry over the incoming breath in.
We let the exhale go.
We allow the breath out to finish.
And we trust that this cycle of change will continue,
giving us life.
Contemplate the possibility that as change occurs
in your breath, change is also occurring
right now in your body.
And it's possible that change is occurring right now
in your mind.
And just as the cycle of breath gives you life,
so too might these changes.
They might give you new life.
They may give you peace, they may give you ease.
Contemplate the possibility
that your world view could shift
and it could shift slowly over time,
and it could shift in an instant.
Be open to this change,
aware that within change there exists potential.
And remain watching the breath here for as long as you like,
rest in the awareness that neither your body
nor your mind are static and still,
but that everything is always changing.
And it is a very good thing.
And whenever you're ready to let go of the meditation,
let's take a moment to recognize your efforts here.
Perhaps a moment to think about how you may
apply this increased mindfulness to your daily life.
Note any benefits that you've received
by spending your time with this practice.
And then strengthen those benefits
by dedicating them to others.