My friend Art led us through a simple, grounding breath meditation — nothing fancy, just the practice of returning to the breath again and again. As Art put it so well, the goal isn't to get rid of thoughts; it's to notice when you've wandered and gently come back. Every single time you do that, you're building the muscle of your own attention.
This guide provides a practical introduction to mindfulness meditation, focusing on the use of the breath as an anchor. It emphasizes that the goal is not to eliminate thoughts, but to develop the discipline of noticing when the mind wanders and gently returning focus to the present moment, thereby increasing mental control and concentration.
You have kind of a rigid back, a hard back, a soft front. Your feet are on the floor.
Your eyes can be closed or open. If they're open, usually the advice is it's a gaze out about 10
feet in front of you. And we're going to find a point of focus. And traditionally,
it can be many things, but traditionally it's been the breath that you will find when your
thoughts wander as they will, as they inevitably will, that you take that breath and maybe even
notice where that breath is coming in, the end of your nostrils perhaps, and focus on that breath
and then do it again and again and again. So the object is not to get rid of thoughts here,
because that's not going to happen. The object is to notice when you're thinking and to bring it
back to the breath. And when you do that, it's creating the discipline. It's like going to the
gym for your brain. It increases the concentration. It enables you to be in control. And the question
might be sometimes, who's in control of your thoughts? Is it just random? Is it you? Can you
guide your thoughts? Can you turn your thoughts away from what's so harmful? So I'm going to,
I don't have a gong here. So I'm going to just say in 10 seconds, we're going to start.
And once again, we're just going to bring it back to the breath every time. And we'll go to about
630, 635 here. And we will begin right now. Just take a few moments to focus on your body
and see if there's any rough spots right now and just kind of release them if you possibly can.
That out-breath, when that out-breath goes, just release that tension.
Just let it go. And realize you're being supported by almost 200 people
from all over the world right now. Much more powerful than a Sangha,
a large Sangha with other people. And Rick will join us when he can. Sometimes it helps to count
your breaths. It's very hard to get beyond about six or so, but it can bring a point of concentration
every time your mind wanders to count that. That your mind may be wandering simply means you're
part of the human race, and there's nothing you're doing wrong. And be gentle on yourself.
Just bring it back to the breath. Bring it back to the body. Let concentration be your friend,
ally. If there's any tension in your body, breathe in that moment, that place of tension,
and breathe it out. Let it go. Oftentimes it's the jaw. Could be your fist if you're really upset.
Could be anything. Breathe in. Breathe out. Let that tension go. With every breath,
just bring that attention back home, back to the body, back to the breath itself,
the mechanics of the breath. Let go of that runaway train of thought that's grabbed you,
pulled you away. Gently bring it back each time, again and again. Remember that if there's any
negative thoughts, they can be purged with one breath, maybe two, maybe three, but you can let
them go. Breathe in. Notice the breath. Breathe out. And again and again. Notice how seductive
the thoughts are, pulling you away. Could be positive thoughts, could be negative thoughts,
but they have a seductive quality that almost demands that you pay attention,
that you can take a breath, let them go. Let it go for these 30 minutes,
and just let them go with the breath. Sometimes thoughts are like a train. It's a train that's
going somewhere. You don't know necessarily, but there's a request, almost a demand sometimes to
get on board. Maybe you don't have to get on board. Maybe you can just let that train go
wherever it's going, but you don't have to be a participant. You can take a breath,
bring it back to your body, very gently, very gently. Let it go. Let that train go.
So with about a minute to go in our meditation, I can happily return and thank Art for guiding
everyone. I took care of my situation, a reminder of impermanence.
