Compassionate Breath

Are you needing a slow down, time to pause and reconnect to breath? In this 17-minute compassionate breath meditation, take a journey into grounding to your surroundings, develop awareness of the breath, and infuse it with compassion to share with yourself and the world.

Transcript

Welcome everyone to the CHI-Ya community. I'm Kelly Ayala, Creator of CHI-Ya Wellness. We are a community that offers events and experiences for those on a self healing journey. This space is not intended to replace professional mental health services. Rather, It is a space to foster overall wellness. I've curated for you all a special compassionate breath meditation practice, And it is my honor to share this space with you. This container holds the unique experiences of each individual. Beginners and seasoned practitioners are welcome. This is a practice that cannot be achieved or perfected. There is no right or wrong way to be. This is a practice of carving out dedicated space to spend time with just you in this present moment. Compassion and breath awareness will be our focus. There's no need to change the breath and there will be periods of stillness for you to just melt into. There's an invitation to always participate at your level of comfort. As we begin to settle in, The practice of meditation begins now. Take a moment to access your choices. Maybe you decide to lie down, To stand up, Sit in a chair, Or on the floor to explore how the body is asking you to hold shape. Once you begin to settle in, I invite you to keep your eyes open for just a moment as we kindly allow the body and mind to become familiar and establish orientation to the unique space that you are in. Taking the images of the space around you, Taking the images of the space around you, Notice the colors, Textures, Dimensions, Boundaries, And the proximity of the objects around you. At this time, You may choose to keep your eyes open with a soft focus on the floor, Or maybe the objects around you, Or maybe you just choose to close your eyes. Now that the eyes have settled on your choosing, Bring awareness to the body and hear if it asks you to make any additional adjustments. If so, At this time, You get to decide how you wish to settle in for the remainder of this meditative playtime. With the magic of your sensing, Begin to compassionately guide awareness to breath. As the breath hears their name, A breath, Notice the settle shifts, Jumps, Pauses, Tingles, As the breath begins to hear its name called. Notice how the breath might begin to shift into performing, To be perfect or deeper. Notice if your breath is gifted with privilege or conditioned for caution. With the most warmth and soft tone, Remind the breath you are not here to judge or criticize it. Remind the breath you are present with it to be in awe and learn from its intuitive wonder. This just might be the essence of compassion, Warmth, Kind words, Awe, Intent to learn, Compassion. Delight in the breath's intelligence to move in and out with little to no or any effort. Because of this divine intelligence, We can let go of trying and become a witness to the breath. With the light of your mind, You can let go of the breath. You can let go of trying and become a witness to the breath. As you breathe in, Witness how the breath feels, The shape it takes, The temperature, The intensity. And as you breathe out, Bear witness to how the breath feels, The shape it takes, The temperature, The intensity. Maybe it is this space right here, Just this witnessing where you'd like to stay. But if you'd like, There lies an opportunity to infuse your breath with compassion for yourself. Even if you don't really feel it, Maybe we can move with that intent to learn, To explore, To set an intention about what compassion just might feel like. Sipping in the breath as it dances from your nose, Your throat, Your chest, And the belly. Deeply sharing this affection with just yourself. Take a few moments to be present with this compassionate in-breath. Deeply sharing this affection with just yourself. Our minds will naturally wonder. This is a very normal thing, As it's a function of our nervous system. There's an invitation though, To bring compassion for yourself and not try to judge your mind as it wanders. Because after all, We all wander at times. With warmth and kind words, Gently guide your attention back to witnessing your breath. Now infuse your out-breath with compassion. As you exhale, The breath dances from your belly, Chest, Throat, And nose. If you wish, There's an opportunity to share this out-breath of compassion with others in the room. Maybe to the people in your house, Your community, Those that live within your city, Your state, The country, The country, The whole world. Take a few moments to delight and be present with just your compassionate out-breath. Notice the degree at which you allow yourself to provide compassionate care. Ask yourself if there's an opportunity to safely allow a bit more space for compassionate breath. After all, You get to decide what is most serving for you. And just maybe with a note of joy, Beginning to melt even more deeply into that space of compassionate breath, Releasing any witnessing or observing effort, Just melting into the compassionate breath. Now is the time to rest in this breath for a few more moments. Gently guiding awareness to the rise and fall of the belly, The chest, The throat, And the nose. Feel how the breath begins to awaken and propel the cells of the body into gentle, Subtle movement. We softly wiggle the fingers, The toes. We begin to allow the breath to dance movement into the arms and the legs, The torso. And there's always that invitation of placing one hand on the heart and one on the belly, Or maybe just imagining a hand on the heart or one on the belly. And guiding this compassionate breath from the nose, The throat, The chest and the belly into the hands, Allowing that compassion to move through you and all around you. When the time is right for you, Gently fluttering the eyes back open. And as you begin to take in the room around you once again, Notice how the warmth, The kind words, The wonder, The awe, The intent to learn, Compassion. Noticing how compassion shares relationship with you now. As we bring a close to this compassionate breath meditation, I'd like you to know that it has been my honor and joy to share this time with you. I hope this day reminds you of the compassion that you have to give and receive. Namaste.