Speaker 1: Welcome to this bonus longer meditation. Find a position of comfort,
as I explain our purpose to day, Sitting is great
for this meditation, but you can also lie down if
that's what you need. This practice is designed to help
you declutter the mind, not by forcing thoughts away, but
by changing your relationship with them, So instead of getting
pulled into every thought, you'll practice noticing, labeling, and returning.
This is a simple skill that becomes powerful with repetition,
so you may want to come back to it a
few times until the methods shared feel natural for you.
Let's begin for the next several moments. You don't need
to solve anything. You don't need to figure anything out.
You're simply here to practice presence. Let your hands rest easily,
let your shoulders soften, and if it feels okay, close
your eyes or soften your gaze. Take a slow breath
in and a slow breath out again. Inhale through your nose,
and exhale through your mouth. One more time. Take a
breath in through your nose and let it out through
your mouth. Now, allow your breathing to return to its
natural rhythm. Bring your attention to your breath. You don't
have to change it. Just notice it. Notice where it's
easiest to feel, maybe at the nostrils, the chest, or
the belly. Choose one place as your anchor, and for
the next few moments, simply follow your breath in and out.
If your mind wanders, that's normal, that's expected. A wandering
mind isn't a sign of failure. It's part of the practice.
Every time you notice you've drifted, you are strengthening awareness.
So just continue breathing in, breathing out. Now I'll add
a gentle technique called labeling. This helps your mind feel
less sticky, less tangled, less convincing. When you notice a thought,
you'll silently name it with a simple label, for example, thinking, planning, remembering, judging, worrying.
Then you'll return to your breath. That's it, not analyzing
the thought, not arguing with it, not pushing it away,
just naming it and coming back. So now settle your
attention on your breath again, in and out, and when
the next thought appears, label it gently, then return. Now
we begin, take a deep breath in, let it out,
and if a thought pulls you away, silently label it thinking.
Return to your breath. If you notice your mind making
a to do list, label it planning, return to the breath.
If a memory arises, label it remembering and return. If
you notice self criticism, label it judging and return. If
you notice anxious thoughts about the future, label it worrying
and return. And if you get swept away for a
while and only realize it a little later, that's okay,
no frustration needed. Just label what happened wandering and return.
Breathing in, breathing out. Now let's simplify even more for
the next few minutes. You can use just one label thinking.
No matter what the thought is, planning, remembering, judging, worrying,
all of it can simply become thinking. So we practice breathing, thinking, breathing, thinking, breathing.
If thoughts come rapidly, label thinking. If there's space, just
breathe and keep returning, over and over steady. Next, allow
the labeling to fade and rest your attention on the
breath one more time, in and out. Notice what it
feels like to be here without chasing every thought. The
mind may still produce thoughts, that's what our minds do,
but you are learning you don't have to follow them.
You can let thoughts exist without being pulled into them. Now,
take a deep breath in and a slow breath out,
and silently repeat. I can return to the present. I
can choose what I give my attention to. Clarity is
available to me. Now, let's bring a gentle sense of
awareness back to our bodies. Begin to notice the room
around you, the support beneath you. Wiggle your fingers and toes,
and when you're ready, open your eyes if they were closed.
Take this moment of calm clarity with you, one breath
at a time. Thank you for listening, and I'll see
you in the next meditation. Now, mistake