A guided meditation for the Zoom-weary.
These days, many of our group practice and study programs are taking place on zoom. How do we create a felt sense of community over this medium?
A challenge on meditating on zoom arises when our eyes and attention are often focused on an electronic screen, while our body is ensconced – often alone – in our bedroom or study. This guided meditation aspires to coordinate our mind with our body – a coming together of our conscious attention and thoughts with our felt sensory experience.
So to start, let’s just find a good seat, whether you’re in a chair, on your couch, on your meditation cushion. Find a good way to sit, so that your back rises very gently, like a tree seeking light. And you might meditate with your eyes open or closed, either way is fine. A good posture and good head and shoulders. You might want to put your hands in your lap or on your knees. The important thing is to be comfortable but upright, not too tight and not too loose.
Now I’d like you to find your breath wherever that is. It might be in your abdomen, your lower chest, it might be by your nose – And let’s take a few deep breaths together, and allow yourself to settle into your body. And in doing so you might notice your presence in your physical location, in your room. Your dining table wherever that is – just take that all in – notice that.
Notice your body settled within this room. And then you might notice your attention is also being directed to an electronic screen, whether it’s your phone or a computer, iPad. Notice that we’re bound together through this medium.
There’s two aspects of our presence right now – one is in our physical location where our body is breathing very simply. The other is our attention is directed either visually or maybe just aurally through sound – that we’re connected together through our electronic instruments and the internet. So notice this dual presencing that we might have – in our room, breathing, very simply but also that we’re joined together through the internet.
You may even want to turn off your screen or turn away from your screen at this point, but still acknowledging the community that we’ve created through the internet and through zoom.
Let’s practice this way [meditate for a short – or longer – time]
Notice what you notice, and breathe with that.
Okay, that’s it. Thank you.