Choose a place where you feel at ease and can sit undisturbed for five or ten minutes.
Your posture should be quiet and attentive. Sit on a chair with your feet flat on the ground, or on the floor with your legs crossed. Your back should be straight, your chin tucked in and your shoulders relaxed. If you wish, close your eyes.
When your posture feels natural, take two or three deep breaths, drawing in air deeply and letting it out gently. Allow your chest to fill, hold it for a moment and then exhale.
You may or may not feel a sense of letting-go and of quiet. The chatter in your head may fade, or it may grow louder. Either way, you notice more about yourself and your surroundings. You become more conscious of being here, now.
Pay attention to sounds and smells. Feel your body from the inside. Notice what it is to be present, how each moment has its own particular quality. Feel your experience and allow it to pass. There’s no need to get to any particular state of mind, or to be any particular way. Don’t look for inspiration; just look. Don’t try to feel spiritual, just feel. Don’t judge your experience. If you’re tired, be aware of tiredness. If you’re agitated, be aware of agitation.
What impressions and sensations come to mind? How does it feel to sit? How does the body feel in contact with your seat? Are you cold or warm, tense or relaxed, tingling or without sensation? How are your thoughts? Running on automatic? Quiet and expansive? Is your experience thick and heavy or light and flowing?
Just watch. Don’t judge.
As you continue, various tensions in your body may show up, perhaps in the way you hold your face. You may notice a certain tilt to your head and neck. Your shoulders may be misaligned. Your belly may be tight. Parts of your body may feel numb. Take note; don’t react. If you feel the urge to change or correct your feelings, don’t. Just watch. Pay attention to how you feel right now.
In this way, explore your body and mind from the inside, as if you were five years old again. Consider that there’s more to you than meets the eye.