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 or 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, and breathing out.
One more time, breathing in, and breathing out.
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.
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.
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 zone 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're noticing that you're 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's 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.
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 then to end this meditation, you can take a deep breath.
So, breathing in deeply, and breathing out slowly.
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.
This meditation I found to be really useful, thank you
This meditation was particularly beneficial and had a calming effect. Thank you so much for providing this!
Thank you for your generous sharing and simplifying the concept of Mindfulness to us!!! really makes a lot of difference in taking care of our mental health in these trying times..
If Iam distracted by a thought ,then I need to become aware of the thought and then come back to the breath gave me an understanding that distractions increase only when I analyse the thought.
Thank you ! I really am feeling in a much better p!ace after these sessions
I’m really really enjoying this series of lessons. Thank you so much for providing them to the world for free. You ROCK! 🙂
Thank you so much!!