Introduction to Mindfulness - Dean Amory

9. As best you can, bring a quality of kindness to your awareness,
perhaps seeing the repeated wanderings of the mind as opportunities
to cultivate greater patience and acceptance within yourself and some
compassion toward your experience. Continue with the practice for
ten minutes, or longer if you wish, perhaps reminding yourself from
time to time that the intention is simply to be aware of your
experience with the here and now each time that you notice that the
mind has wandered off and is no longer in touch with the abdomen,
in touch with this very breath in this very moment.
Exercise 7: The Body Scan
(from “A Mindful Way through Depression, by Williams, Teasdale
and Kabat-Zinn, 2007)
1. Make yourself comfortable lying down on your back, in a place
where you will feel warm and undisturbed. You can lie on a mat or
rug on the floor or on your bed. Allow your eyes to close gently.
2. Take a few moments to get in touch with the movement of your
breath and the sensations in your body. When you are ready, bring
your awareness to the physical sensations in your body, especially to
the sensations of touch or pressure where your body makes contact
with the fl oor or bed. On each out-breath, allow yourself to sink a
little deeper into the mat or bed.
3. To get into the most helpful mindset, remind yourself that this will
be a time for “falling awake” rather than falling asleep. Remind
yourself as well that the idea here is to be aware of your experience as
it is unfolding, however it is. It is not to change the way you are
feeling or to become more relaxed or calmer. The intention of this
practice is to bring awareness to any and all sensations you are able to
be aware of (or lack of sensation) as you focus your attention
systematically on each part of the body in turn.
4. Now bring your awareness to the sensations in the belly, becoming
aware of the changing patterns of sensations in the abdominal wall as
the breath moves into the body and as it moves out of the body.
129