Jon Kabat-Zinn leads an excerpt from his Guided Mindfulness Meditation Series 1, instructing the listener to settle in a posture of dignity and rest attention on the breath at the belly or nostrils. The practice extends into open awareness of all arising perceptions, returning to the breath as the steady anchor.
Transcript
coming to this period of sitting meditation practice with the firm intention to bring mindfulness and discernment to each moment sitting in a posture which For You In This Moment embodies feelings of dignity and self-reliance and wakefulness Stillness and stability and when you're ready bringing your attention to settle on the breath as you feel it flowing in and out of your body focusing on feeling your belly as it expands gently on the in breath and recedes gently on the out breath or on the feeling of the air flowing past your nostrils or on being in touch with your breathing wherever you find it most Vivid and just keep your attention on the breath for the full duration of each in breath and the full duration of each out breath riding the waves of your own breathing as a raft would ride up and down on the waves at the seashore fully in touch with the sensations in the belly or at the nostrils or wherever else you're following it Breath by breath Moment by moment allowing the breath to remind you over and over again to be fully present to be right here right now if at any time you find that your attention has waned or has wandered off the breath in entirely noting where your mind is gone and what it is preoccupied with once you come to notice it and then gently and without condemning yourself for it and without either clinging to the content of your thoughts or feelings or rejecting and suppressing it just letting go and bringing your attention back to the breath and doing this over and over again each time the Mind loses its focus momentarily and moves away from the breath e staying fully in touch just this breath coming in just this breath going out using the breath as an anchor to keep your attention right here in the present moment e e e e and if you feel comfortable with it at a certain point expanding the field of your awareness around the breath until it includes a sense of the body as a whole sitting here breathing opening to the full spectrum of feelings associated with your body as you sit here awareness filling the body allowing whatever Sensations arise to be held in Awareness Moment by moment watching the come and go without reacting to them as best you can just observing the play of any and all perceptions Sensations thoughts and feelings along with your breath as you sit here fully in touch with this moment e and here too continually bringing your focus back to the body as a whole sitting and breathing each time it fades or is carried off by the stream of thoughts or feelings