Just Twenty Minutes Of Meditation
(Opening To Insight)
Before you start your practice, find a relatively quiet place to sit where you will be uninterrupted.
You will also need a timer, set for twenty minutes (it can be helpful to set an interval bell at five minute increments to help with this practice). You can use a timer on your phone, an app or a simple kitchen timer.
Obviously, you cannot read and meditate at the same time. So briefly read through this document before you begin each session.
• • • • •
•Sit down, start your timer and close your eyes.
Inhale. Exhale.
Another inhale bringing your attention to sensation. Exhale, focus.
Inhale. Exhale.
Inhale, stretch up, shoulders to ears, spine long.
Exhale, relax shoulders, open your chest.
Rock back and forth, then side to side. Allow your body to tell you how to sit.
Inhale, filling your belly to maximum.
Exhale, let it all go.
•Bring your awareness to the top of your head.
Your face.
Ears, back of your head, neck.
Right shoulder, arm, hand
Left hand, arm, shoulder.
Front of your body; chest and belly.
Back of your body.
Right hip, right leg, foot.
Left foot, leg, hip.
Now inhale deeply. Exhale deeply.
•Begin again at the top of your head. Take note of any changes in your sensations from the last pass through.
Move at your own pace.
When you notice that you have become distracted, refocus with an inhale and exhale and begin again.
Continue for the next five minutes and then, for the final ten minutes of your meditation period, you will shift into a deeper and more exploratory practice of using focused and non-judgemental awareness.
• • • • •
•Wherever you are in your process of watching your sensations, come back to your breath.
Inhale. Exhale.
Bring your awareness to your mind. Allow yourself to experience your state of mind in this moment.
Simply experience it; this may include a thought that occurs to you, an insight, or a range of sensations.
Be open to anything and everything that comes up. Use non-judgemental observation to take note of the state of your mind in this moment.
Next, move to your chest, to your heart.
You are experiencing your emotional state in this moment.
You may have an insight in words or feelings.
Allow yourself to have the experience which arises in the moment. And allow the experience to shift or change as it will while you observe it.
Finally, move to your belly, to your gut.
You are experiencing your intuitive state in this moment.
What arises? Feelings, words, images, impressions are all the language of intuition.
What changes? And can you watch as your experience changes from one thing to another?
•Continue in this way for the final five mintes, experiencing your state of mind, emotional state, and intuitive state, while you allow yourself to open to that experience without judgement.
Accept that when your meditation period is over, you will recall the insights and parts of your experience that are important for you to recall. That which has changed or shifted is often forgotten.
This is a practice in both attention and acceptance.