Mindfulness and Yoga in Schools A Guide for Teachers and Practitioners

CHAPTER 6: MINDFULNESS ON THE CUSHION • 133

make any corrections they feel are needed. Last, record the script digitally on their phone or
other electronic device so that they can e-mail it or text it to themselves. Now, they will have
a customized meditation script that they can use at any time. Note, students may want to
make several versions of the script at various lengths, 3, 5, 10, and 20 minutes.

CONCLUSION

Mindfulness practices on the cushion offer a formal, structured way to cultivate insight.
Both internal and external experiences affect us. The awareness of sense impressions, mental
events, and the associated feeling-tones provides an opportunity to shift out of habitual ways

TABLE 6.1 Creating your Meditation Script

Describe the process of getting seated for your meditation. Include

details that are relevant to your home (e.g., the type of chair or

pillow)

Getting Seated:

Provide instruction on breath. Write about how you would like

to bring your awareness to your breath. Would you like to count

breaths? Watch inhalations shift to exhalations? Provide the details

here.

Breath Awareness:

Provide guidance as to how you would like to attend to the physical

body and sensations. Here, you can detail awareness of your body

parts (as in the body scan), or you can bring your awareness to your

senses, asking yourself to notice smells, feelings, and sounds. Be

descriptive and specific.

Physical Presence:

Next, you may choose to explore your emotions. You can add a

section that asks you to notice your feelings. You may want to locate

the feelings in your body and breathe into the feelings (see Soften,

Soothe, Allow Meditation).

Emotion Awareness:

Many meditations ask you to bring your focus to an object. You can

choose your breath, your feelings, a statement (e.g., I can be present

in the moment), a color, a favorite place, or an imaginary place.

Whatever you choose, give yourself detailed guidance. If it is a place,

describe the place in detail, including what it looks like, sounds,

smells, the wind, etc. As this is your focus object, also remember to

tell yourself to notice other thoughts as they arise and pass away and

to bring your focus back to the object.

Focus Object and

Thoughts:

Once you have spent time with the focus object, you want to bring

your awareness back to your body and your breath. Slowly guide

yourself to the present moment, the sensations of the body and

the breathing that you described during the early part of your

meditation. Once you have brought yourself back to the present

moment, guide yourself to slowly moving back to engagement in

your current world (e.g., sitting up, slowly opening your eye and

checking in). This should be the closing of your meditation.

Centering and Closing: