Preparing for a 10-minute mindfulness practice by firstly checking on your environment,
Making sure that your mobile phone is off,
Your phone is off the hook and you won't be disturbed for this time.
And then find a comfortable position for your body.
You can be lying down or seated somewhere,
Making sure that the body has all the support and coverings that it needs to remain warm and comfortable for the next 10 minutes or so.
And then allowing the body to settle into the position,
Closing the eyes or having them downcast and turning the awareness within,
Beginning to feel into how you've placed your body,
Making sure that the body is balanced and symmetrical,
Equal weight,
Left and the right sides of the body and the surface beneath.
Lift and lengthen through the spine,
Lifting the shoulders up,
Rolling them back and letting them drop so that the shoulders are away from the ears,
Relaxing down,
Letting the facial expression become soft,
Let go of the muscles around the eyes and the mouth,
Releasing any tension in the jaw by opening and closing the mouth widely a couple of times or having a yawn,
Then let it relax shut,
Lips lightly closed,
Checking the teeth are unclenched and the tongue is at the bottom of the mouth.
Bring the chin slightly in towards the chest.
Become aware of the natural breath.
Begin witnessing that breath,
So watching it without trying to change it in any way,
Letting it float in and out of the body.
Begin feeling the sensations on the skin created by this breath.
Now the changing shape of the body changes the contact between the body and the surface beneath.
Feeling the movement of the clothing,
The coverings against the skin.
Become aware of the movement of the breath in the nostrils.
Feeling the coolness of the in-breath,
The warmth of the out-breath.
Begin visualizing the nostrils as two sides of a triangle.
The apex where the two sides meet is the eyebrow center.
The inhalation,
Follow the breath as it travels up both sides of the triangle to the eyebrow center.
And on the out-breath,
Imagine the breath is coming from the eyebrow center,
Down both the nostrils and out past the nose tip.
Continue.
Begin feeling the movement of the breath in the back of the throat.
Feel the small patch of coolness created by the in-breath that disappears again on the out-breath.
Continue to follow the journey of the breath down into the chest.
Lungs are made up of the tiny little sacks of air called alveoli.
Hundreds of them like bunches of grapes.
And on the inhalation,
Air travels in,
Fills these alveoli.
And then oxygen is swapped for carbon dioxide through the cell walls.
And this is what we breathe out.
So see if you can visualize this process happening in the chest as the body breathes.
And now watching the whole journey of the breath from beginning to end.
The beginning at the nose tip,
Watching the breath as it travels up both sides of the nostrils to the eyebrow center,
Down the back of the throat,
Creating the patch of coolness and into the lungs.
And follow the whole process in reverse on the out-breath.
So continuing to watch the breath in this way.
The aim of the practice is to try not to let a single breath or a single part of the breath go by unnoticed.
Now taking the awareness down into the belly,
Becoming aware of the movement of the diaphragm.
That large sheet of muscle sits at the front side of the abdominal cavity just below the ribcage.
Feel the diaphragm expanding down into the abdomen on the in-breath.
This is one of the reasons the abdomen swells during belly breathing.
And then on the exhalation,
Feel the diaphragm coming back in,
Tucking itself back up underneath the ribcage,
Squeezing the last bits of air from the lungs.
Continue in this way,
Letting go of awareness of the natural breath.
Become aware of the whole body.
Feel your body in this position,
The surface beneath,
Different textures of that surface.
And the contact between the body and that surface.
Feel the sensations on the skin,
The clothing,
The coverings moving against the skin.
Noticing the movement of air against exposed skin.
Preparing now to end this practice.
Take the awareness to the ears,
Beginning to listen for outside sounds and energies.
Preparing to move on with your day.
Beginning to move the body now,
Wriggle fingers and toes.
Shrug the shoulders,
Move the head and have a nice big stretch.
Mindfulness practice is now complete,
Opening your eyes whenever you're ready.
