A shared practice
Mindfulness of Thoughts & Feelings
S
Created bySean Fargo
From Sean's awareness collection — recorded in his own voice.
In Sean Fargo’s own voice13 min
Read along — the full script
Welcome. Please find a comfortable position in your chair. Sit upright with your feet flat on the floor, your arms and legs uncrossed, and allow your eyes to close gently if that's comfortable for you. And take a few moments to get in touch with the movement of your breath and the sensations in your body.
Feeling relaxed and alert. Just noticing the sensations of your legs, your feet. Dropping the shoulders. Soften the belly. Relax the muscles of your face and jaw. And bring your awareness to the sensations of touch or pressure where your body makes contact with the chair and the floor.
Feel into gravity. Feel into the weight of your body. Now slowly bring your attention to the rise and fall of your belly or your chest as you breathe in and out. Noticing the rising and falling of your belly or chest like waves of the ocean coming in and out.
Your breath is always there to be noticed and felt. Notice its rhythm in your body, each breath, the inhale and the exhale. With your own natural rhythm of breathing, what does that feel like? Notice the changing patterns of sensations.
Feeling them in your belly as you breathe in and out. There's no need to control your breathing in any way. Just let your breath breathe itself. As best as you can, bring an attitude of generous allowing and gentle acceptance to the rest of your experience.
As you sit here breathing right now. Generous allowing to all of your experience. There's nothing to be fixed. No particular state or mood to be achieved. Simply allow your experience to be your experience as it is. There's no need for it to be otherwise.
And sooner or later, your mind will wander away to concerns or worries, sensations of pain, planning or daydreaming. It's what minds do. It's what every mind does. When you notice that your mind has wandered to something, congratulate yourself.
That's a moment of mindfulness. You've come back and are once more aware of your experience. You may want to acknowledge where your mind has been. Like, "Oh, there's thinking," or, "Oh, I was just feeling something." And then gently escort your attention back to the sensations of the breath coming in and going out with a sense of kindness and compassion.
These are all opportunities to bring patience and gentle curiosity to your experience. When you become aware of bodily sensations and feelings, like intense sensations in a particular part of your body, see if you can just notice them. Acknowledge their presence and see if you can make space for them without blocking them out or feeling overwhelmed by them.
See if you can open your heart and make some room for any discomfort. Making room for tension. Opening up to any anxiety. Allowing space for them to be there. Is there enough space to welcome all of your experience? Is there enough space in you to welcome all of your experience?
Now watch the sensations change from moment to moment. Sometimes they grow stronger, sometimes they stay the same, and sometimes they grow weaker. Just noticing them change and see if you can breathe calmly into sensations of discomfort.
Breathing calmly into sensations of pain. Breathing into sensations of anxiety. Your intention is not to make you feel better, but to get better at feeling, to get better at noticing, to get better at bringing mindfulness to our actual experience in this moment.
So now stay with your experience in the same way for as long as you'd like, noticing the movements of the breath with a gentle attitude of intention and care. Thank you.
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