Taking a couple of moments here to settle into your meditation posture and making yourself as comfortable as possible, even if the mind is racing or you're feeling very agitated or dealing with really difficult, strong emotions right now. If you care to, closing the eyes now, or you can feel free to keep them open as well, just having a soft gaze. And knowing that you have this time now that's just for you, a time to find a little bit more ease and comfort and grounding. So really having a sense now of giving your body permission to soften and to relax here into gravity, just knowing that the earth beneath you is strong and more than able to take your weight. So just feeling the support and strength that's there, relaxing into it.

And then once again, coming to rest attention on the breath, if that feels okay for you. And as you focus on the feeling and flow of your breathing, let's begin the process of untangling from any unhelpful thoughts that might've been or might still be revving up distress, heartache, fear, or tension. Often, when we feel a strong emotion, the mind tips into a lot of unhelpful thoughts that only make things even more difficult in an already painful time. When we're entangled with thoughts, when we get hooked by them, we take them very seriously. We take them to be the truth, and we become really reactive to them.

But if we can train in stepping back from the thoughts, when we untangle from them again and again, those thoughts begin to lose their hold over us, and they lose their emotional charge. Now, we don't need to try to get rid of thoughts. We simply unhook from them and rest our attention back in our senses, back in the present moment. And when we do that, we release the suffering they were generating and the stress they were generating, and we anchor ourselves in a calm and steady awareness, even in the midst of really difficult or painful times. So let's practice in this way now, and I'm going to guide you through.

So just focusing on the breath in the body. And no need to think about the breath, just feeling the sensations. Think of the breath as your anchor. Anchoring your mind on the breath. Finding stability.

And thoughts and emotions will still be arising, staying around sometimes and passing. That's not a problem. There's no need at all to try and stop or control thoughts and emotions. Instead, just let them be. Let them pass through the background of your experience as you keep your focus on the breath in the foreground of your experience as best you can.

Seeing if you can adopt a kindly awareness towards your experience, including any thoughts that may be present. And just kind of seeing thoughts as mental events that pass through the mind all the time. Bits of language, sounds that arise and pass through the mind like clouds in the sky of your awareness. So not taking them too seriously, not buying into them, just letting them flow through. And from time to time you might notice that you are no longer observing the breath, but you've become hooked by thoughts, and that's okay.

That's not a problem. It's a normal part of meditation. Just when you notice that you got hooked by a thought, mentally noting to yourself, just thinking, and then bring your focus back to the breathing, and just getting yourself unstuck. Thoughts can have an almost hypnotic effect on us when we buy into them, when we get hooked, and they can generate a lot of anxiety and distress and suffering. So here, we're training in noticing that habit of getting stuck in unhelpful thoughts and bringing ourselves back to the present moment, back to our senses and back to a sense of stability and calm and ease.

So just keep practicing like that, following the breath, noticing when you Get hooked. And coming back, anchoring your awareness again and again on the breath and using it to hold you steady in the present moment. Just letting thoughts arise and pass away in the background without taking them seriously, without buying into them, just letting them pass through awareness like clouds in the sky and letting any suffering they may have been generating start to melt away. Finding more ease and strength moment by moment as you rest the mind on the breath. And as this practice now begins to draw towards a close, just remembering that as you go about your day today, any time the mind wanders into unhelpful thinking into generating suffering, you can always get yourself unstuck by bringing your focus back to your senses, back to your breath and back to the present moment.

And each time you do this, you're practicing letting go of suffering, anchoring yourself in mindful awareness, and you're going to be able to find more strength and ease in the middle of it all. So taking a deep breath in now. And as you breathe out, beginning to wriggle the fingers and the toes. And opening the eyes, if you care to. And I hope this practice has been helpful for you, and we'll see you back here tomorrow.