10 minute meditation: a liberating phrase [FOLLOW ALONG]

Good morning, welcome to beautiful Loch Itiv in Scotland. I've done some morning movement already, just kind of waking up the body and I thought we could do a meditation together. So I invite you to do a follow along with me, we're going to do some breath work, just slowing down the breath so that we can slow down on lines and slow down our bodies and then get into some meditation. I'm sitting in a Japanese called Seiza position. I've got a bit of a budget makeup system here but basically a rock and then a cushion and I've got a bad hip at the moment so this is how I like to sit for my meditation. Making friends with the floor is a good aspiration to have in our meditation practice, so it could be Seiza like this where you're basically sitting on your knees or cross-legged, making sure that you have a pillow underneath your bum so that your hips are higher than your knees, that will protect your knees and your lower back. Otherwise sitting on a chair and if it feels comfortable for you bringing the back of your spine off the back of the chair so you feel an elongation. So we imagine if you've joined me for previous meditations with a piece of string attached to the ceiling to the top of your head, feel a lengthening of your spine an elongation but then you're relaxing down from there. Just by the way if I am brushing myself it's because I'm getting bitten by the notorious midge here in Scotland, there's many of them, so I may do that through the meditation just to stop myself getting bitten. So today's theme, a couple of things that can inspire us is firstly the stillness of water like the lock behind me and that being the aspiration for our practice where we can really find some stillness and this is a multi-year project. We don't need to necessarily be still in our meditation to feel the benefit of it and so stillness is one idea. Secondly is trying to treat our thoughts or feelings that arise as just a sensation that we observe. So constantly you know there's light coming into our eyes, there's sounds coming into our ears, we don't get annoyed about that right? Why are my eyes giving me all these photons of light? Why are my ears giving me all these vibrations? It's just sensation right? And yet thought in exactly the same way is a sensation arising in the present moment. We can't control our thoughts, they just pop into our heads and yet how often do we say I shouldn't be thinking like this? Why do I have these silly thoughts? Like why am I anxious again? And this why and this rejection and resistance to our thoughts creates an internal resistance which ironically perpetuates the internal conflict that we feel. So can we in our meditation try and treat our thoughts like any other sensation that's arising in the present moment? Not something that we can control nor is it something that we need to fight. Instead it just is what it is. We cannot control our thoughts but we can choose where to place our attention. The key mantra we cannot control our thoughts but we can choose where to place our attention. So the breath is a wonderful anchor to help keep us here and now and so that is one of the main anchors that we're going to return to. And really what we're doing in our meditation practice is over time developing the ability to just hang out in the present moment and it becomes easier over time to really just be here and now. And maybe you're going to be busy today and that's great, that's where you're supposed to be. Even if you come back to your breath, come back to presence, a few times in this meditation that is growth, something to celebrate. So not needing to put any pressure on ourselves to be like an elite meditating monk that has no thought. That's not what meditation is about. Meditation is the process of returning, returning back to the present so that we become comfortable here and now. It becomes an option for us to return to. I notice when I'm out hiking here so that I can have thoughts of this is too difficult, I don't want to be here, let me turn back, planning my escape routes. And previously I'd be like, ah George, come on, you've planned this and you're on this walk, let's do this. Trying to fight thought with thought. Instead now what I can do and it's really, really liberating is just come back to my breath. I can't control my thoughts but I can choose where to place my attention. And so our seated practice today is not just 10-15 minutes of us sitting together, instead it's training ourselves to realize that this is available to us anytime, anywhere. So please do feel the freedom to return back to your breath throughout the day. That's really when you bring your meditation practice into your everyday ways of being so it serves you. And I do hope your meditation is of value to you whatever arises today. So with that said, let's jump into our practice. So I invite you to close your eyes and begin to arrive. Arriving with your breath, watching your breath coming in and out through your nostrils. Not trying to change it, just watching. And a slight tuck of the chin. So feel a lengthening in the back of your neck so your head isn't pushed out in front of you but instead a gentle tuck embracing the double chin which gives the most efficient and healthy alignment for your spine. Your spine is upright and relaxed. The face is soft. If there's any tension in your forehead, allow it to release, to sink. The cheeks and the jaw, allow them to unwind, to relax. And beginning to slow down your breath. As we slow down our breath, we slow down our system. Can you breathe so light that you cannot hear your breath? Can you breathe so slow that you can barely perceive the air coming in and out through your nostrils? Breathing slow. To slow the breath even more, let's try our four, seven, eight breathing. If this feels too slow for you, that's fine. You can always come out, breathe normally and rejoin. You always have the freedom to do that. So here we go. We'll try it together. Breathing in for four, two, three, four. Holding the breath for seven, two, three, four, five, six, seven and releasing for eight, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Breathe in nice and relaxed, sending the breath deep down into you. Holding the breath, holding it down in a gentle relaxed way and breathing out. A slow exhale, starting slow at the start, consistent all the way through the eight seconds, so you're not pushing at the end. Breathe in, hold the breath nice and softly, nice and relaxed and breathe out. Breathe in, hold the breath and breathe out. Breathe in, hold the breath and breathe out. Last one, breathe in, hold the breath and breathe out. Continue to breathe slow and mindfully, keeping your breath light and slow. As we slow down our breath, we slow down the mind and the body. A wonderful way to find some stillness in our meditation. I invite you to watch your breath, watching as the slightly colder air comes in through your nostrils and the slightly warmer air leaving your nostrils and the breath being the anchor for your meditation. Inevitably, you'll start thinking about something. When you notice that you're lost in thought, gently, gently, gently come back to your breath. See if you can treat thought the same way that you would do any other sensation. Maybe you will focus on what you hear, but you're not going to beat yourself up for that. Instead, once you've realized that you're not with your breath, gently come back. That's all you need to do. And a mantra that you could use is be here. So you notice that you're lost, say be here to yourself and gently come back to your breath. Staying with the breath, your face soft, releasing any tension in the forehead, the cheeks and the jaw. Really relax into being here and now and enjoying the present moment. Watching your breath and taking a moment just to thank yourself for showing up for your practice, for your self-care. Self-care is not self-indulgence. You're setting the foundation for you to sustainably and joyfully have energy. Meditation is this timeless practice to help ground us in the here and now. We can still have energy to do the things that we want in life, but we're developing the ability to have stillness and presence, which is a wonderful gift. So just taking a moment to thank yourself for showing up, taking a step on your journey and gently coming back to your body, to your space, perhaps bringing some wrist rolls, some shoulder rolls to your body, beginning to warm up again. And then when you're ready, opening your eyes. So I hope you enjoyed landing together. I hope the breath continues to serve you throughout the day. I hope that moment of stillness continues to serve you throughout the day. Hope you breathe easy, my friend.