Cultivating Compassionate Connection

Practising a steady presence. Approaching with friendliness and patience whichever way the present moment is showing to you. The meditation includes an invitation to use compassionate gestures, like placing your hand on your belly to increase acceptance to sensations, thoughts and emotions. This meditation was guided at the online meditation group on June 8, 2020.

Connected and Restful Support

Coming home to the body. Recentring and resting attention where there is a felt sense of support. This meditation was guided at the online meditation group on May 7, 2020.

Finding Steady Ground

Steadying through the connectedness of the body and finding refuge from breath. Watching minds’ movement without getting caught up by thoughts. Cultivating acceptance to experiences as they are and making choices on how and when to approach challenging body and mind states. This meditation was guided at the online meditation group on May 4, 2020. The meditation finishes with the poem Walk Slowly by Danna Faulds.

Embodied Friendly Presence

A friendly scan through the body with the focus on the contact points of feet, seat and breath to ground and reconnect with the present moment. The meditation was guided at the online meditation group on April 24, 2020.

Breathing in Gentle Awareness

Guided meditation focused on the sensations of body and breath with kind awareness. The meditation was guided at the online meditation group on April 27, 2020.

Non-judgemental Presence through Listening

Guided meditation focused on the sensations of listening and awareness of sounds. We practice anchoring awareness into the present moment through non-judgemental listening. The meditation begins with steadying into the body and breath. The meditation was guided at the online meditation group on April 16, 2020.

Reconnecting Restfully with the Present Moment

Our environment offers us constantly different things to process. Some of the information we receive can cause worry. Without stepping out of repetitive anxious thoughts, we can remain in a quite reactive state. Therefore, it is important to train 'the muscle' of awareness and concentration that enables us to make choices where to focus on. Through practice, we have better chances of noticing when it is time to shift the focus, for our own wellbeing.

The meditation was guided at the online meditation group on April 13, 2020. The recording begins with a short introduction on why it is important to practise the awareness of thoughts.

Cultivating Acceptance through the Body

Guided meditation focused on the acceptance of the present moment through the body. The body is the stage where thoughts and emotions express themselves. In this meditation, we cultivate kindness to whatever we experience, by softening our relation also to challenging feelings. Guided at the online meditation group on April 6 2020.

Resting Awareness on the Breath and Body

Guided meditation focused on the body and breath. Guided at the online meditation group on March 30 2020.

Mindful Pause

Mindful Pause provides a way to step out of the automatic pilot and the thinking mind. You check in with yourself by asking ‘what is here for me’. In the first step you ‘arrive’ to this moment, then focus on your breath and then expand awareness again to include the whole body.

You can do this practise either sitting or standing. Find an upright posture that supports the free flow of breath and wakeful state. If possible, place your feet flat against the floor. Hands can rest on your lap. Let your eyes softly close or lower your gaze. See how kindly and with acceptance you can approach your experience during the next few minutes.

Gathering Attention through Body Sensations

Bringing awareness to the sensations in the body is a great way to connect with yourself and with what is here and now. We place the attention on the body region by region bringing acceptance to any type of sensations we might experience, whether pleasant, unpleasant or more neutral feelings. Whenever we are carried away by our thinking mind, we acknowledge this without judgement and gather our attention again; back to the breath or the region of the body that we were with.

The exercise can be done sitting on a chair or on the floor or lying down on a mat. Ensure your body is in a wakeful but relaxed posture.

Receptive Presence of Sounds

The same way as sensations in the body or following the flow of breathing, we can choose to focus our attention to other objects of the present moment. Awareness of Sounds meditation can be done either in or outdoors. If you choose to practise outdoors, choose a peaceful environment where you are not likely to be disturbed. You can choose to sit in the garden or go somewhere you know well and find naturally calming.

You may also choose to combine the meditation with mindful walking where you move in your own rhythm and without goals. You may want to first walk for a little while to let your body find a pace that feels right for you, and where you feel you can remain present with the movement without too much effort. After finding your own way of walking, pausing occasionally to take in your surroundings, you can bring your attention to the sounds around you.

Mountain Meditation

In formal mindfulness practise, as well as in the daily life, practise applying the same unwavering stillness and a sense of groundedness than what a magnificent mountain has. We can learn to meet the changes in our own lives, over seconds, over hours, over years, much like a changing weather the mountain faces. And in changing conditions in our lives, we do not avoid or ignore our experiences, but honour and meet them, with compassion and strength.

In Mountain Meditation rather than following the image somewhere ‘away’ from your body, to another time and place, we aim to remain as present in the body as we can, letting ourselves feel the qualities of the mountain in the body. Full of dignity and calm.

Despite that the guidance in this meditation has been planned to a standing posture you can also practise sitting. If you sit on a chair make sure your feet are flat against the floor and you are not slouching but rather in an erect posture, spine self-supported. On a cushion, you can cross your legs, or kneel, and the same recommendation about the straight and relaxed upper body applies.