Guided Meditation: Sustain unwavering mindfulness of all appearances

Alan Wallace’s Minding Closely is this month’s selection at the Tricycle Book Club. In partnership with Snow Lion Publications, all Tricycle Community Members can get Minding Closely at a 20% discount with free shipping in the US*, plus free e-book for instant download. Get the book now. From the book:

Begin each session with a sense of ease. Release your awareness into the field of tactile sensations throughout the body, remaining mindfully present. Settle your body in its natural state, imbued with relaxation, stillness, and a posture of vigilance. The supine position [meditating while lying down] is profoundly relaxing, and if you are resting in comfort, it will not be difficult to remain still, without moving or fidgeting. If you adopt a psychological stance of vigilance, the supine posture can be very suitable for meditation.

Embrace the subtle challenge of settling your respiration in its natural rhythm, allowing breath to flow of its own accord; with no intervention and no notion of correct breathing—long or short, deep or shallow, regular or irregular—just let it be. Breathe effortlessly, as if you were deep asleep, but remain mindfully attentive to the sensations of the breath arising throughout the body.

With your eyes at least partially open, so that visual appearances arise, let your awareness hover motionlessly in the present moment. Having no preference, desire, or aversion, engage mindfully and attend to whatever thoughts and sensory images appear. With your awareness like space, simply be present, without reacting to any appearances. Release any grasping tendencies, allowing your awareness to remain in its own place. Attend to whatever arises in the present moment, without distinction, grasping, or aversion, and sustain an unwavering flow of mindfulness.