Welcome Zen, friend. I hope, wherever you are, you are doing well. I'm glad you've joined me for this episode of A Drop of Zen, a short guided meditation designed to help you feel more calm and grounded. Let's begin by finding a place to sit or lie down in where you can be comfortable, where maybe you can be all by yourself and not be interrupted, and where you don't have to do anything at all but follow along with this meditation and once you are comfortable, you can invite a soft gaze downward or close your eyes. We'll begin by bringing your attention to your breath. Just simply notice it. Is the inhale quick or slow? What is the exhale like? See, if you can have only curiosity and absolutely no judgment, it's a miracle that our bodies breathe on their own without us even having to think about it. So, just simply noticing the breath and allowing it to be just as it is, can you now bring a little more attention to the exhale than the inhale? Just noticing that exhale. And now let's begin to invite in silence, to invite your thoughts to quiet, knowing there is no perfect way to do this and you don't need to try to do this perfectly. When a thought comes to mind, simply notice it and then let it go. For instance, if you start thinking about what you should make for dinner, instead of then thinking about what is in your cabinet or refrigerator, just notice that thought what should I make for dinner? Notice it and then imagine poof. You can just make it disappear and then continue doing that. Notice the next thought and let it go. If it helps you to have an image, maybe you'd like to imagine a beautiful stream where the water is glistening, and every time you have a thought, remove it from your head as an image of a leaf, let it fall into the water and let it drift away, and just continue to do that, knowing that you're doing a great job. We'll stay here for another minute when those thoughts come to you, either poof, imagine them disappearing, return to the silence, or remove that thought as a leaf and watch it drift down the stream.
Speaker 1It's normal to have thoughts pop into our minds as we try to silence our mind. Enjoy those moments, those glimpses of silence as you have them. Begin to bring your attention back to the present moment, to your body, by just noticing the chair or ground beneath you, and make any small movement that feels good. As we come out of this meditation. We'll take a nice, nurturing deep breath in, together with a long, slow exhale. Let it go and just allow your breath to ebb and flow at its own pace.
Speaker 1This is great practice to meditate on your own, in silence. This is exactly what you'll do when you sit in silence. Invite silence in, notice your thoughts, let the thoughts go and just continue to repeat. People often say they aren't good meditators, but this is the process. This happens for most of us. We have thoughts, we let it go, we let the thoughts go, we enjoy that brief glimpse of silence and we repeat Just showing up and trying the meditation is really all you need to do and that's what counts. That's what you get the gold star for. I'm so glad you joined me here today and until next time, friend, I hope you'll continue to take some time today and every day to do something kind for yourself.