5-Minute Meditation
“Reality is always kinder than the stories we tell about it.”
5-Minute Guided Meditation
I’ve recorded a 5-minute meditation practice for you. Find a comfortable position. Feel your feet on the floor, or seat on the cushion.
Take a few deep cleansing breaths noticing how your shoulders rise and fall or how your chest expands with air.
And then settle into a natural rhythm. Notice if there is any obvious tension you can release. Let the eyes and jaws be soft.
As you follow the sensations of your breathing there will be a stream of thoughts in the background.
Let them be. Let them rise and fall like waves of the ocean around the breath.
Sometimes as 3 or 10 breath cycles pass, a strong thought will arise and carry the attention away.
As soon as you notice this thought, name it gently according to its predominant quality.
Remember your simple notes: planning, remembering, judging, worrying, fearful thought, happy thought. Simply naming and acknowledging the thought is supportive of the witnessing quality of the mindful loving awareness.
Once you have noted a thought gently for some time, you will notice that it dissolves like a fog under sunlight.
Back to the breath. Begin again.
Stepping out of the stories the thought tells, you can see the common patterns of thought without being so captured by them.
Notice how some thoughts bring up strong emotions, and how some emotions bring up certain thoughts. Witness the interplay between thought and emotion.
More thoughts will arrive. And when they do, notice them, observe them, label and begin again with your breath.
Notice the experience of space between thoughts.
Imagine you are open sky and thoughts float through like clouds.
How did that go for you? What did you notice during the practice? Do you have an experience you’d like to share? Do you have any questions? What’s your current relationship to your “thinking mind?” Feel free to reach out to me directly at any time here. I love to hear from you.