Hi and welcome to your introduction to meditation.
To begin,
Find yourself a comfortable seated position with your feet on the ground and your spine nice and tall.
Place your hands in your lap and take the first few moments here to make any subtle movement,
Wiggles or adjustments you may need to ensure you found a position you can hold for the next few minutes.
When you're ready,
Close down your eyes.
I want you to draw your awareness to your physical body.
Notice the sensation of the seat beneath you,
The contact your body makes with the ground.
As you sit here,
Can you start to relax the entire body,
Letting go of any tension you might be holding on to,
Softening the belly,
Relaxing the shoulders.
Now relax your jaw,
Letting it fall away from the face.
Relax your eyes,
Let them sit heavy in the sockets.
And finally,
Relaxing through the center of your brows,
Your third eye.
As you sit here in stillness,
Start to notice your breath.
Pay attention to where you feel the breath move throughout the body.
Start to lengthen the breath now by slowly breathing in,
First filling up the belly,
Then the lungs,
Pausing at the top,
And then slowly exhale back out through the nose.
Continue taking these deep belly breaths.
In meditation,
We use the breath as a vehicle to train the mind,
Focusing first on the inhale,
Then following the flow of breath back out on the exhale.
If you're new to meditation,
It can even be helpful to count the breath,
Counting one on the inhale and two on the exhale.
Count three on the inhale and four on the exhale.
Continue this counting all the way up to ten.
When you've reached a count of ten,
You can begin again starting at one.
Don't be discouraged if you lose count or your mind wanders off.
This is completely normal.
It's our awareness of this and our ability to refocus the mind that is the very essence of meditation.
This continual shift back to a point of focus is how we train the mind.
Softly maintain your focus on the breath.
Gently start to bring your awareness back into the space around you,
Inviting some subtle movement back into the body,
Rubbing your thumbs and your fingertips together.
And when you're ready,
Gently open your eyes.
I hope you've enjoyed this introduction to meditation.
Remember,
The key to meditation is consistency,
So try your best to carve out time each day to practice.
Until next time,
Om Shanti.
