Hello and welcome to your breathing meditation.
Your job is to simply relax and just listen to the sound of my voice.
There will be pauses in between me talking so that you can enjoy and experience your practice.
In this practice,
We are going to start with some breathing,
Then a body scan,
And then bring our focus back to your breathing.
Keeping your eyes open for now,
Just get comfortable and allow yourself to get settled in.
Coming into posture as you get a sense of your feet on the floor or a sense of your body in your chair or bed.
Coming into presence,
Feeling your overall sense of being.
Take a moment to become aware of where you are right now.
Where are you?
Look around your physical space and name three things that you see in the room that you are in.
And here we are by simply taking the posture of meditation,
This very simple posture,
And coming into presence of this physical space.
We are already being mindful and meditating.
Being mindful of body and space.
Now I invite you to gently close your eyes and enjoy the darkness.
We are going to shift our body's breathing rate and pattern.
And when we do that,
We stimulate our body's calming response.
We are going to do a 4-5-6 breathing pattern.
That means take a deep breath in for four seconds through your nose,
Hold it for five seconds,
And then slowly let it out for six seconds through your mouth.
To slow down the exhale,
Pucker your lips as if you are blowing out a candle.
So let's do that now.
Take a deep breath in for four seconds through your nose.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold it for five seconds.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
And then slowly let it out for six seconds through your mouth.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Once again,
Take a deep breath in for four seconds through your nose.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold it for five seconds.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
And then slowly let it out for six seconds through your mouth.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Do this one more time on your own.
And then let your breath come to a natural rhythm that is unique to you.
That is your ordinary breath,
Not controlled in any way.
Just let it go in and go out.
Now we are going to move into a state of relaxation.
If you are feeling any tension in your body and mind,
The first step in relaxing is to give yourself permission to relax and let go of that tension.
So just asking your body to relax can have a large impact in releasing tension.
Your body does listen to you.
That's why they say be careful what you say because you are listening.
In your mind,
Focus within tension,
Beginning with your toes and extending to your feet.
And in a quiet voice in your mind,
Just ask your muscles to soften and relax.
Now moving up,
Bring your awareness to your legs and ask all those muscles to soften and relax.
Now move up to the muscles of your stomach and chest and ask all your muscles to soften and relax.
Moving your awareness up to your shoulders and your neck and ask those muscles to soften and relax.
And maybe allow your shoulders to move down and away from your neck.
Now move your awareness up to the muscles of your head,
Face,
Eyes,
And jaw and ask all the muscles there to soften and relax.
And maybe even let your teeth move a little bit apart.
Now moving down,
Bring your awareness to your arms and hands and ask those muscles to soften and relax.
Finally,
Bring your awareness to your back and ask all the muscles in your upper and lower back to soften and relax.
And just allow this wave of relaxation to wash over you entirely.
Now feel the length of your back pressing up against your chair or bed.
And notice how this chair or bed is touching the floor and how it is being fully supported by the floor.
And this floor and building are being fully supported by this earth.
And now just allow yourself to feel fully supported right now.
This is your time for you.
This is a gift you are giving to yourself.
You are exactly where you are supposed to be in this moment.
Nothing is being asked of you.
There is nothing for you to do right now.
So just allow yourself to relax into this experience where you can enjoy these moments.
There is no problem to solve,
No task to do.
Your only job is to simply be.
And by doing this training,
You bring greater wholeness to yourself.
Each moment we are doing something vital for our existence and right now that is breathing.
Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh said,
Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky.
Conscious breathing is my anchor.
What does he mean by anchor?
An anchor is something to focus on.
It can be your breath,
It can be sound,
It can be a word.
Today we are going to use our breathing as our anchor.
So if a thought comes to your mind,
Just let it float away like a cloud and just bring your focus back to your breath.
Because your breathing is the most present thing you are doing right now and you take it with you everywhere you go.
So connect with your breath,
Feel your breath and be more mindful of it.
That alone will promote a sense of relaxation.
Allow every breath you take in and let go to let you go deeper into your practice.
Allow yourself to sink deeper into this moment,
Being mindful on the aspect of breathing.
We know when the body is breathing in and we know when the body is breathing out.
Just with a normal natural breath,
Find it.
Just pay attention to it.
Find what aspect of breathing stands out for you.
That might be the experience of the rise and fall of your belly or chest or the experience of air coming in and out of your nose.
Notice when the air is cool and notice when the air is warm.
Just pay attention to that and get curious about it.
You may notice images and sounds like people talking outside the room or a fan or cars outside.
They are all just aspects of what is happening in our present moment.
Not a problem or obstacle,
Just a reminder of each moment as they are passing.
If they come,
Just acknowledge them and then come back to your breath.
The breath calms us and centers us again and again.
As thoughts arise,
You simply notice those thoughts and simply return to the sensation of breathing.
These thoughts are like clouds in the sky.
They simply float by and we just don't have to get hooked by them.
Like leaves on a stream,
They are just passing by.
Staying present,
Paying attention to your breathing.
If you find yourself going to the past or to the future,
Gently let go and return back to the sound of my voice or your breath.
Be here right now.
Use the sound of my voice or your breath to gently bring you back to remind you of what you are doing here,
Which is to be present while syncing your body and mind so that we can help ourselves and our busy lives all while being a leader or caretaker of others.
Allow the space between your thoughts to expand.
Start to become comfortable with this space.
It is okay and it is possible to experience some space between the thoughts.
Now start to come back into the room.
Start to come back into your body.
Start to feel your back up against the chair or your body on your bed.
Start to wiggle your fingers and toes and allow your eyes to gently open and bring your attention back to your space.
And when you're ready,
Lift your head and mindfully step forward into your day.
Thank you.
