And good evening to people as they just begin to come in for tonight's session. And as promised last week, I've gone right back to basics, but not quite, if you know what I mean. So we are going back, so our first meditation.
In a few minutes is going to be the body scan, but I'm doing a new version of the body scan. It's just a, with a slightly more sort of, compassion focus to it. So it's about bringing a real compassionate attention to our bodies, and that felt quite, important at the moment.
And then the second one is one of the core meditations from the Mindfulness based stress reduction programme, which is just an early meditation of sitting and noticing. Which incorporates breath, body, sound, touch, etc. So they are really very basic, .
Meditations, but none the worse for that. Do you know a better word for them rather than basic perhaps would be core meditations, ones that people around the world practise every day, two of the real staple meditations for people that want to maintain good mental health and maintain their well-being. So, my real hope is that this meets people's needs tonight.
And those of you who have done the courses before will know that, these two meditations are, on the, part of the, recordings that the webinar vet, sends out as part of our Our whole course, but what I thought I would do just to make sure is when we finish, I'll just send the two URLs so people like these two and enjoy them. They can continue practising them using the sound files because they're the ones we recorded in the studio, so they're really good quality. And so, yeah, a big welcome for everybody.
I think that this journey we've all been on together through COVID-19 and looking at how we can use our mindful muscle to come through it better has been such an interesting one. And it feels sort of telling really that at this stage in our journey we are coming back to these real core meditations, you know, we've, we've played with compassion, we've looked at gratitude, we've used mindfulness to explore so many different facets of what we need to get through the other side of a difficult time like this. And then I was just thinking last week and I thought, you know, we, we must never forget.
That the mindfulness of the body. Just a lovely simple meditation. Just so useful.
So with no more ado, I'm just gonna ask you to remember that ideally, the body scan is usually done lying down, but . I think that's quite an ask on a Sunday evening, isn't it? But if people, you know, do have a mat ready or the carpet is comfortable enough and you did want to get yourself into a lying down position, then I'll just give you a few seconds.
But if not, then . This can be just as effectively done and sitting down. So No bells at all for this one, and it's just a really lovely, well, not, not too long because the second the sitting meditation is a longer meditation, but one for a Sunday evening, I think it fits like a glove.
So if we can get ourselves into our mindful position and let's just do that wonderful thing about bringing a sense of real kind of kindness and gratitude to ourselves that, you know, a real well done a metaphorical pat on our own backs for saying it's a beautiful Sunday evening out there, but paying attention and honing our mind for practise is just so good for us. And you can't help thinking if there's a bit more mindfulness in the world, goodness, wouldn't we be in a In a better position at the moment. I think perhaps this country especially maybe.
And so just getting ourselves into a lovely . Dignified position so that we're comfortable but not so comfortable that we're going to drop off. And we just begin this meditation by Just taking your hands.
And just placing them. Just over your heart so that you can feel the warmth. Of your hand.
Just holding it there. As a reminder really. To bring affectionate awareness to yourself.
Threw out his body scan. Meditation. Allowing our eyes to just close or half close.
Finding a mindful smile. Remembering that mindful smile is. A sort of half smile of, oh this is good, this is a good thing to be doing.
And if we can just feel the warmth. And that gentle touch of your hands over your heart. And let's just take 3 slow.
Breaths. Just breathing in. I let him go.
Breathing in And let him go. One more gentle breath in. And let it go.
And just let your arms relax. And just drop to your side. And in this exercise we're going to bring A really lovely, compassionate attention.
To each part of our body. Just moving from one part of the body to another. Phoning a curious scientist.
Stance to find out what works best for each of us. We're gonna be Inclining our awareness towards the body. Perhaps in the same way that you might just lean forward towards a young child.
That we wanted to And to be compassionate towards. That lovely gentleness about it. Perhaps with that reassuring smile.
And if you have judgments or unpleasant associations with any particular body part. Or if you experience any physical discomfort in the same way that we just placed our hand on that part of our, on our heart, we can just. If we feel discomfort and we can reach it, just maybe taking our hand and.
Placing it there as a gesture of kindness. Perhaps allowing the warmth of our hands, that touch to flow into that part of the body. And if an area of your body is too difficult or uncomfortable to stay with.
We just moved gently with no judgement. Allowing this exercise to be as gentle. And as peaceful as possible.
So we start the scan. By taking our attention to the toes. Of the left foot.
Just noticing if there are. Any sensations. In the toes of the left foot.
Are they warm or cool or dry? Or are they moist? I soft, but cans.
Just feeling the sensation of your clothes. Perhaps finding ease or discomfort. Or maybe nothing at all, just to.
And perhaps Did you tell you that? In a smile of recognition or even Perhaps for the first time in your life. Appreciation.
And then move your attention to the soul. Of your left foot. Can you detect any sensations there?
Noticing that your feet have this relatively small surface. Let they hold up your entire body. They worked so hard.
Let's bring a real mind for appreciation. Found me for a moment. And if there's any discomfort.
Just release any tension. Allowing that area to soften. As though perhaps it was wrapped in a warm towel.
Just addressing any discomfort with kindness. Yeah, there's discomfort, but it's OK. It's all right.
And now feeling your whole foot. If your foot feels good today. You can also extend gratitude.
For that. And move your attention now, just up your leg. I'm in a calf myself.
And My ankle. Just noticing what body sensations are present. Appreciating if the part feels fine and sending kindness if there's any discomfort or tightness or stiffness.
Just staying with the left side. Moving up the ankle, the shin. The car, the name.
Just noticing. If your mind wanders as it will. And then just take it back.
To the part of the body. That you want to be working with. And then Taking our attention down.
And finding the toes of your right foot. And again, just. Checking in there Giving them a little appreciation.
Noticing any discomfort? Be curious, why have I started wiggling my toes off the right foot now. And again, just going to the soul.
But you're right, thought him. Bringing that curiosity there. Extending gratitude.
The sole of your right foot for holding you up for all these years. Just noticing what sensations are present there and moving on up again. And just finding The ankle And the shame In the car And the name.
Bringing your attention all the way out of the thigh. I'm moving over to the left side. Just attending to the left eye.
I come to the tummy. We just take a lovely gentle breath in there. Maybe taking our hand and resting our hand on our tummies.
Just breathing in Noticing if you feel uneasy or judgmental. About any part of our body. We just Notice that we can take our hand and place it there.
Breathe into that part. Just remind ourselves of the job it does for us. Moving our attention now.
Up once more and finding our breath and our heart. Just breathing. Moving up to the neck, and shoulders.
Again, just bringing that mindful attention there. And if we feel any tension, as we so often have it in our shoulders. Just trying some words of kindness.
Just let my shoulders and my neck be at ease. Just taking our attention down our left arm. Down to our hands.
And taking our attention from the left side. To the right arm, just scanning down there. Just bringing any warm, wonderful kind compassion.
Each part of the body that we find. Finally just coming to our face. Just thinking about The fact that there are probably more muscles.
In the face allowing us to frown, allowing us to smile. Allowing us to talk, allowing us to raise our eyebrows when we're surprised. And these muscles are at work from the moment we wake.
And they're still at work while we're sleeping. Let's just find a warm. And noticing just how easy it is to use those muscles.
To just smile. And relax. Just noticing that we've scanned the whole of our body.
And that we've met each part of our body with a warm. A curiosity. And the gratitude for the job they do for us.
Where we found any discomfort. We leaned into it. And we eased it.
No judgement. We met our body With no judgement. That's a really rare thing.
To do. Now we're ready, very gently. Just come back to the room.
I think that's a nice. I'm using that word a lot nice. I've just become mindful of that.
I think that's a really useful. Take on the body scan. So it's more than just bringing curiosity to our body, it's curiosity, gratitude and kindness for the job.
But our body does for us. And I think that's a good thing. So, I hope people enjoyed that, .
Yeah, we've got a few of you on tonight. It's lovely. And We're going to do a sitting meditation now.
And this is, a John Cabot Zinn, and those of you who know me for a while know that, I've told you before, I have the photograph of John in my bedroom that my wife's been trying to get rid of for about 15 years longer than that actually. For many, many years. But it's a lovely photograph and it is a well taken one in a frame of the great man.
But this is one of his meditations, the sitting meditation. And although it guides you through the sitting meditation with the breath as the primary object of awareness. It does go a lot further than just that.
And it's a real core. Meditation from, one of John's first books. I think it was Full Catastrophe Living.
And I just think it's a lovely meditation. And so I found this picture because that's pretty much, you know, when you say, when you hear me say look dignified, that's the position we're looking for, for the seated meditation. If you're not one of those people like you remember Meg that used to do the meditations with me, By Meg can get yourself into some lovely seated yogic positions, and I've been doing so much yoga this year, but I still can't sit.
That comfortably, . With my sort of feet behind me and my backside resting, it just feels too uncomfortable still, so I still tend to meditate in this seated position. So if we can get ourselves into our position that looks a bit like that there with this on the sofa or wherever you are.
And if we're ready, Just making sure that our head is balanced. On our shoulders, their arms, and our hands are resting in a comfortable position. And let's go for the sitting.
Meditation. So this is the time now. For allowing ourselves on this Sunday.
Evening. To switch from our normal mode of doing. And moving.
And reacting To a new mode A lovely mode, a mode of simply being. Just being attentive. To what's happening within your own awareness right here.
Right now. And as you said, Just taking your attention deliberately. And on purpose, with no judgement.
To the sensations of breath. Noticing how your abdomen moves on each in breath. And outcry.
Movement of air. Through your nostrils. As we breathe.
That slight movement of chest. And showers. Bringing your awareness to whichever part of your breath cycle.
Is the most vivid. For me at the moment that's right there in my nostrils. It might be in your tummy, your chest, or your shoulders.
Or like me, the movement of air. As we breathe. Paying attention To the entire cycle of breath.
From the moment of the air coming in. Filling the lungs and extending the abdomen slightly. Movement of air going out.
And being aware of that infinitesimal stop in between the in breath. And the out breath and the out breath. And the next in brand.
Be curious as to, is this just one movement, even though. There's a change of direction from in breath to out breath. Or is there a pause?
Just sitting Curious. Being aware of your whole entire breath cycle. And recognising that each segment, each part of the breath cycle is different.
And this time now. Maybe it's different from the last time. And each breath.
It's absolutely unique. And of course our breath. And our attention May part company or attention might shift.
And we wander into fantasy or memories or thoughts of the day or. Maybe we even Give ourselves a hard time about something. When you notice that that's happening.
Gently Bring your attention back. Anchoring your attention to breath. The actual physical sensations of breath.
As it moves through your body. And our job is to be aware. Of where our mind goes.
And then Our job is to bring our attention back. Notice if there's a tendency. To want to control your breathing.
Perhaps. Betting the quality of the attention. Kind of be light and easy.
What we're doing is we're simply observing and noticing no control. Just as if you were Floating on a gently undulating sea. So you go up with one way.
And down with the next. Don't control the duration of the wave. For the depth between the waves.
You're just riding them. Riding the sensations of breathing. And you may notice now.
But there were sounds. Sounds of movement or Just sounds. I'm just noticing that your attention moves towards that sound as we hear it.
And we stay with it just long enough. To make a decision about what's making that sound. We're just sit with that.
Just coming closer to the actual experience of whatever sound. Occurs As it connects with your ear drums. If you have been.
Paying attention to sound. And we've let go of our breath. Very gently now.
Just come back to the breath. Without judgement. And if you see that.
Your attention has gone somewhere else, just bring it back. Notice the tendency that we sometimes have as humans to have an opinion about things. Liking things that are happening that's good.
Well, now I'm breathing well. Let go of that. Just stay with the bra.
Just riding the entire cycle of each breath. Each moment Maybe your attention will be pulled away by shifting to bodily sensations as we did earlier. And as you notice these sensations.
We have choices, don't we? We can allow ourselves to go towards them and meet them with curiosity. There's no judgement here about what works.
We might just notice that sensation and stay with it for a bit. And if we do, Stay there just for a moment. Just bringing a curiosity to what it is that we're feeling.
And then, when you're ready. Very gently. With a lovely friendly attitude.
Just notice that just as your mind has gone off and. We've attended to our bodies and we've attended to sound. We can always just come all the way back.
And anchor our attention again because And in this moment now we have nothing to do. But ride the waves. Of your breath.
And if our mind wanders again, we bring it back in a friendly, nonjudgmental way. Just breathing. And as our meditation.
Comes to an end. Just recognise that you've spent this time. Intentionally aware.
Of each moment to moment experience that you've nourished. And strengthened your ability to just be with. Whatever comes our way without finding the need to change it or adapt it or to do anything with it.
That you've taken time to be. Aware of the aliveness of the present moment. You've expanded your skill, to be curious.
Unavailable, but whatever shows up. Without judgement. When you're ready, Just allow the eyes to let some light in.
She had them closed. And permit yourself to shift in your chair. Or to stretch or to ease whichever way feels comfortable.
As our seated meditation. Slowly comes to an end. Oh And if Oh, it was lovely.
I really enjoyed that tonight. And I think there is something rather lovely about remembering that. The most simple, the most.
Core meditations, very often, as valuable as some of the ones that we use that require more imagination, that require greater visualisation. Just a real core. Meditation, thanks, Katrina.
And Yeah. I think it's a scary week for everybody this week, isn't it? I think that, I'm sitting there thinking, remember how I used to be when I was a kid and the long holidays were coming to an end, and that night before going back to school was always a dreadful night.
So I wish I knew mindfulness then . I didn't But That I think we are on the cusp of this sort of return to work phase, the cusp of this, you know, trying to perhaps kid ourselves that this is all over. And the thing I'd like to share with you is I think that mindfulness now is going to be more important than ever.
Mindful to wash our hands still, mindful to keep our distance, mindful to . Yeah, thanks. Just somebody's came, that was really useful, and the pain in my hand has gone away.
Oh, I'm so pleased. Yeah, I do think that now is, is where the mindfulness is going to come in because we've almost had everybody else telling us to be looking after ourselves all the time now, and I think we're moving. To, A really important time where mindfulness of how we should Should I don't like shoulds.
Mindfulness of the way to move forward now, you know, and, and that the compassion for others and compassion for self and . A real awareness and a mindfulness of what really matters, you know, and what, what really matters and holding that as we gentle ourselves back into the throng. I know I'm starting to do distance walk, talk sessions with my clients for therapy now, next week.
People have been requesting that, and I've been saying now up to now and using Zoom, but, looking at the government guidance and Where we are, I think walk talk sessions where we stay distanced. But I've got to admit to feeling slightly anxious about it, but then thinking, right, well this is where you use your mindfulness. To make sure that you are keeping that distance.
And if a thought pops in that says, oh, I'm sure it's safe, we meet that thought with curiosity, don't we? And we remind ourselves of what really matters and we find that distance again. And I think that being mindful is going to be a lifesaver actually for.
Those of us who are So good luck, have a lovely weeks. Let's hope it all goes as well as it possibly, possibly could. And, look forward to seeing, as many of you next week as well.
And I usually am beginning to think about, I've not got a clue where we'll go next week. Maybe we'll stay with these basic ones. Maybe we'll stay with some of this stuff.
So thank you, Cindy. Thanks, Cat, thanks guys. Quite a few of you coming in, seem to enjoy the back to the basics.
I think the sitting meditation is a peach, isn't it? And, have lovely evenings. Good night everyone.