Take a few moments to find a comfortable posture for meditation.
This can look like anything that feels good for your body right now.
Whether that is sitting in a chair with your feet planted on the floor,
Laying down or finding some form of a cross-legged position.
Tuning into the comfort and need of your body as it is here now.
Once you've grabbed any props or any blankets or support for your meditation posture,
If it feels comfortable and safe,
You can begin to close your eyes.
If you're not quite ready to close the eyes,
You can pick a point on the floor in front of you or the ceiling above you if you're laying down and allow your gaze to soften around this unmoving point.
So begin to work towards closing our eyes.
Our brain begins to slow down.
Over 80% of our constant processing in the brain comes from visual stimuli.
So when we shut down the eyes intentionally and consciously,
We invite the brainwaves to move into slower cycles.
And from this,
Our body moves into a relaxation response.
So rooting down through your sit bones,
Feeling yourself connected to the floor,
The earth beneath you,
And then feeling the energy rise through your central channel as the crown of the head lifts gently towards the heavens,
Towards the cosmos.
And as you tune into your breath,
This link or this bridge to the present moment,
Try and visualize yourself in space.
Try and visualize where you are on planet earth,
In your house,
In your town,
In your city,
Your state or region,
Your country,
And then zooming out to the whole world,
The whole planet,
And then even further out into the solar system and the infinite cosmos.
Can you visualize your place,
Your home in this vastness now?
And feeling the space around you grow as you inhale and your body extends out in all directions like Saturn's rings.
With your inhales,
The side body,
The back body,
The chest,
The heart,
The belly,
All of you expands as you invite this little breath of the universe into the body,
Filling up as much as you can,
Drinking a little bit more air at the top,
And then exhale.
Maybe you even open the lips and allow a sigh to escape as you feel the ribs,
All the intercostal muscles retract,
The belly comes into spine and you come back to your center,
Back to your home.
And then releasing the visualization,
Turning your focus to the sensations of breath.
Through awareness of breath,
We can bring tranquility of mind for the state of our breath miraculously mirrors the state of our internal landscape.
And I invite you now to pick a place in the body where a raw sensation of breath manifests.
Just one and focus there,
Perhaps it's the gentle movement of the belly in and out.
Perhaps the inflation of the ribs as the breath moves in and out.
Or perhaps it is the sensation of hot and cold at the nostrils.
Whichever sensation or bodily awareness that you choose,
Focus your mind there now.
See if you can keep your mind concentrated on the raw sensation,
Releasing any conceptualization,
Releasing any imagery of the breath and simply focusing on the visceral sensations of the body.
I will leave you here to focus on these sensations of the body and let you know when we have one minute left.
So allow yourself to be absorbed in this concentration for a full minute in silence and then I will let you know when we have one minute left for a total of two minutes of this breathing awareness.
Now,
I will let you know when we have one minute left for a total of two minutes of breathing awareness.
And you have one minute left.
If the mind wanders,
Know that this is perfectly normal,
Expected at a natural function of mind.
But as soon as you realize the mind has wandered off into a story,
A memory or a future anticipation,
Gently call it back to the raw sensations of the breath,
The raw sensations of breath at the nose,
The ribs or the belly.
Now you can release this concentration.
Release this concentration and then just notice how you feel.
Do you feel more connected to your body?
Do you feel more connected to the present moment?
Perhaps you do,
Perhaps you don't.
Both are perfectly perfect.
We remember that nothing is inherently good or bad,
It simply is.
And when we take this precious time to connect to our breathing,
Our respiration,
And the physical space in which we occupy on Earth,
Within the universe,
We can feel a little bit more at home perhaps,
And a little bit more connected to this fleeting point in time that is now.
I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day and thank you so much for meditating with me.
