Mindfulness Downloads
Choosing a time and place where you will be undisturbed, find a comfortable place to sit on a chair or on the floor – whatever feels right for you. And remind yourself that there is no right or wrong way to do these practises, there is no success or failure. The task is simply to be with your experience as best as you can.
You might find that your mind wanders during these practises into thoughts, criticisms, judgments, the future, or the past – this is perfectly natural – this is what minds do. When you notice that your mind has wandered away from what you are paying attention to, simply notice where your mind has wondered to, and gently escort your attention back to the next in-breath or out-breath.
An introduction with some tips for your mindfulness practise
Mindfulness downloads
Counting meditation – click here to download
Mindful eating – Chocolate meditation
- Choose some chocolate that you haven’t eaten before or haven’t eaten in a while.
- Open the packaging and smell the aroma slowly
- Break off a piece and look at it – examine it
- Put the chocolate in your mouth, but do not chew or eat just yet
- Hold it on your tongue, allowing it to melt slightly
- Notice the tendency to suck or bite
- Notice what it tastes like, the texture, the temperature
- Notice if your mind wanders, and if it does, just escort your awareness back to the chocolate
- After the chocolate has melted, swallow it very slowly
Now ask yourself what your experience was like of eating the chocolate. Did you notice anything different about this experience of eating chocolate? How often did your mind wander?
(Chocolate Meditation taken from Williams and Penham, 2014 “Mindfulness, a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world’, p55)