Let's walk into this new territory together.
Find your spot, the one where your body is supported but awake.
Close your eyes, or let your gaze rest softly. Let the world fall away.
Before anything else, greet your mind. Not as a tool or a thing, but as your fellow traveler on this journey. Tell it what we are going to do: today we practice noticing, and telling one thing from another.
We start where we know. Rest your attention on the breath: the quiet rise and fall, the cool inhale, the warm exhale. Think of it as an anchor, holding you steady in the middle of the sea.
Breathe here for three minutes, letting the ripples settle and the water clear.
Now comes the small shift. Notice that you know you are breathing. That awareness is no accident; it is there because you placed your mind there.
You are not just breathing. You are aware that you are breathing. That is the muscle we are here to strengthen.
This is where mindfulness widens the frame. From now on, when your mind naturally drifts from the breath, do not rush to pull it back.
Instead... name what is here.
Stay with it. Attend to it as you attended to your breath.
Rather than changing the channel at once, watch what happens:
Don't push. Don't pull. It may be pleasant, unpleasant, or dull; leave it there until it passes on its own.
If you find yourself drifting into daydream, come back to the breath, and ask yourself: what is going on right now?
Practice this way for five minutes.
As you move with your attention, breath to sound, thought to sensation, notice something deeper: the part of you that knows all of it. The quiet witness of the moving scenes.
Stay with this for five more minutes.
Slowly let go of your focus on the breath. Take a few deeper, slower breaths.
Thank your mind; the work is done.
When you are ready, open your eyes. Look at the world now... perhaps a little clearer, a little softer.
This practice is one of seventeen in the book.
Get the book · $9.90