This first practice will allow you to just rest and chill out for a few minutes. It is a short and simple way to take a break from the worries and stresses of teen life. Downloadable audio for this practice is available at http://www.newharbinger.com/33766. (You may want to take a few minutes right now to download all of the recorded practices, including this one, so you can simply close your eyes and listen to each practice when you come to it.)
As you begin, it will be helpful to find a quiet protected place where you won’t be disturbed—in a corner of the school library, outside on a bench or by a tree, or in your bedroom. Once you become more familiar with mindful resting, you’ll be able to do it anywhere—in a noisy classroom, on a crowded train, or before an audition, job interview, or sports competition.
If you haven’t downloaded the audio yet, I encourage you to do so now. If you are choosing to read, read through the following instructions, slowly. The instructions suggest closing your eyes if you feel comfortable doing so. Of course, if you are reading, you won’t be able to do that until after you’ve read the practice. So if you’re choosing to learn this practice by reading it, you may want to read a paragraph, then close your eyes and slowly follow the instructions in that paragraph, then read the next paragraph, and so on. As you read and practice, let the feeling of rest wash over you.
Give it a rest. For the next few minutes, give it a rest—all of it—homework, your parents, the hallway gossip, your inner gossip, the next new thing…let everything be exactly the way it is…and rest.
Let your body rest. If you feel comfortable, allow your eyes to close. If not, focus on a neutral spot in front of you. Feel your body supported by the chair, the couch, the bed, or the floor. Allow the muscles in your body and your face to rest. Maybe even let out a long slow sigh…
Let your attention rest on the breath…the rhythm of the breath in the belly. Feel the belly expand with each in-breath and release with each out-breath…narrowing your attention to the rhythm of the breath and allowing everything else to fade into the background…breathing, resting…nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to be, nothing to prove.
Feel the entire in-breath, from the very first sip all the way through to where the breath is still…and the entire out-breath, from the first whisper all the way through to where the breath is still… Now see if you can let your attention rest in the Still Quiet Place between the in-breath and the out-breath… And rest again in the still space between the out-breath and the in-breath…
Breathing, resting, being… This is more than enough…just hanging out with the breath and the stillness…
Feeling the stillness and quietness that is always inside of you…
And when your attention wanders, which it will, gently return it to the experience of breathing—feeling the rhythm of the breath in the belly…
Choosing to rest. Choosing to focus your attention on the breath. Allowing things to be just as they are…allowing yourself to be exactly as you are… There’s nothing to change, or fix, or improve…
Breathing and resting. Resting and breathing.
As this practice session comes to a close, you may want to remember that in our fast-paced, media-driven world, resting is a radical act. With practice, you can learn to breathe and rest anytime, anywhere: when you’re putting on your shoes…when you’re struggling in class…when you’re hanging out with friends…even when you’re arguing with someone… This kind of resting and breathing is especially helpful when you’re nervous, depressed, bored, or angry.
Now that you have finished reading, please give yourself permission to rest; take three to five minutes to simply rest with your breath as described.