Watchful Mind Meditation

We want to sit in our meditation posture, if you are sitting in a chair have your feet flat on the ground. Sit with your back as straight as possible without being uncomfortable. Place your left hand palm up and then your right hand palm up. Place your right hand on top of your left and gently touch your thumbs together. Place your hands in your lap and point your thumbs towards your belly button. Then slightly lower your chin. Close your eyes to reduce any distractions.

We can think to ourselves, my forehead is relaxed and allow yourself to become relaxed. We can think my eyes are relaxed and feel the tension around your eyes soften. My face is relaxed. My jaw is relaxed. My entire head is completely relaxed. My throat is warm and comfortable. My neck is relaxed. My shoulders are relaxed and free of all tension and stress. Just let it go. My upper arms are relaxed. My lower arms and hands are relaxed. My chest is open, warm and relaxed. My stomach is relaxed and free of all stress and worry. Just release it. My abdomen is relaxed. Feel yourself become more deeply relaxed. My pelvis is relaxed. The upper half of my back is relaxed and free of all tension and stress. The lower half of my back is relaxed and free of all stress and worry. My entire spine is completely relaxed. My hips are relaxed. Feel yourself going becoming even more tranquil. My thighs are relaxed. My lower legs and feet are relaxed. My entire body is now completely relaxed.

Now we can scan through our body for any discomfort, pain or illness we may be experiencing and when we find any we can imagine it turns into thick black smoke and we can remove it from our body when we exhale where it will dissolve instantly. Keep doing this until you have removed all your pain and discomfort and illnesses. Go ahead.

Now before we go into the meditation we need to come up with a motivation for doing this, so we can think to ourselves, “I am doing this meditation so that I can become more mindful to benefit everyone I come into contact with, either directly or indirectly.”

We can focus our mind on the rim of our nostrils or upper lip and feel the air pass by this area as we inhale and feel a cool or tingling sensation and again as we exhale and feel a warmth or pressure.

Now that we have improved our concentration, we want to shift our focus away from our breath and we are going to now focus on the stillness of our mind. We want to just sit in the stillness, and let any thought we may have to pass by without getting involved with them. It is as though we are sitting next to a stream and watching the section right before us. We see the water flow past the area and perhaps a leaf floats into our view and passes us by. We let the leaf pass by without watching where it is going or where it ends up. We keep our focus on the stream ahead. We want to just focus on the stillness of our mind and allow our thoughts to arise and dissipate without getting caught up in them, without getting attached to them. Try to let them appear and disappear without getting involved. If find you have followed any thoughts that came up, just simply bring your attention back to the stillness of being, the stillness of your mind.

If you find your mind has wandered, just simply bring your focus back to the stillness of being. We are not trying to stop our thoughts, but simply let them appear and disappear again.

Now before we come out of meditation we need to dedicate it, so we can think to ourselves, “I wish to dedicate this virtuous action of meditation to help all beings to learn to be more mindful for the benefit of everyone.”

Now we can slowly and gently come out of meditation taking as much time as we need, slowly opening our eyes and returning.

You can find the recorded guided meditation here: https://youtu.be/JWSODRxgcnY