The 44 – Practice 4: Dropping From Stories to the Body

By Leo Babauta

You’ve been meditating for almost two weeks now! No matter how inconsistent you’ve been, I’m so happy you’re practicing.

What you might be noticing, as you practice, is a stream of thoughts that keeps flowing back into your head even when you’re not trying to think. That’s normal. Just think of it as shining a spotlight on what’s always there, all the time.

We can think of that stream of thoughts as a narrative, and specific parts of that narrative as “stories” that we’re telling ourselves – stories about meditation, about ourselves, about what’s happening in the world around us. When I call them “stories,” I don’t mean that they’re false. Nor are they necessarily true. They’re just our interpretation of life, our narrative to ourselves about what’s going on. We’re telling ourselves stories all the time.

Sometimes the stories are helpful (“I can do this!”). Sometimes they’re not (“I suck at meditating, I hate this, this is stupid”). Either way, we have an alternative to being stuck in the middle of our mind’s stories: we can come back to the present moment, out of our daydream.

The practice is to notice the stories that we’re telling ourselves, and drop into the body.

The Practice – Dropping From Stories to the Body

In this video, I guide you through the practice of dropping from the stories in our heads, to the physical sensations in our bodies.

[Download video or download audio]

Practice this every day for four days. Feel free to also spend a minute noticing your breath after you’re done with the practice.