Welcome.
I'm glad you're here.
To get started,
Find a comfortable position for your body.
You don't have to be sitting down.
But wherever you are,
See if you can make yourself more comfortable.
And once you find that position,
Feel whatever is supporting you.
Notice where it's touching your body.
And relax even more.
Bring your attention first to your eyes.
If it feels okay,
Maybe you gently close the lids or find a soft gaze.
Letting go of the sense of sight.
For me,
This is one of the ways to bring my attention inward.
And then bring your awareness to your breath.
Notice your body breathing for you.
The body inhales and exhales,
Requiring no intervention by you.
And you might notice that as soon as you begin watching the breath,
There's an automatic deepening of the breath.
For most of us,
We spend most of our day breathing quite shallowly.
And when we focus our awareness on the breath,
Our body automatically begins to deepen,
Lengthen,
Broaden that breath.
So let's intentionally now change the breath.
We'll start by taking a few cleansing breaths.
Inhale deeply through the nose,
Filling the lungs all the way down to the bottom,
And then the middle,
And then the top.
Pause.
Gently open the mouth and let it go.
Inhale again through the nose,
Slowly filling from the bottom,
And then the middle,
And then the top.
Pause.
Open the mouth and let something go.
And this last breath we'll do in and out through the nose,
Inhaling deeply through the nose,
Filling the lungs from the bottom to the middle,
All the way to the top.
And then gently emptying through the nose from the top,
And then the middle,
And then the bottom.
Continue that breathing,
Inhaling and exhaling through the nose,
Completely filling the lungs on the inhale,
Completely emptying them on the exhale.
This is one of the ways to practice mindfulness.
Completely focused on the breath.
It's very difficult for the mind to wander.
And when it does,
You simply notice,
And then come back to the breathing.
Continue that deep diaphragmatic breathing.
And now bring your awareness to some part of your body where the skin is exposed.
It might be your hands or your arms or your face.
Maybe you're barefoot and it's your feet.
Wherever you choose,
You bring your awareness there.
And then notice what you feel on your skin.
Maybe it's the temperature of the room.
Maybe it's the flow of the air around you.
It might even be something that you're touching.
You notice how it feels.
You notice what you're feeling.
And you begin to sense whether this is something you're enjoying,
Or maybe something you want to change.
Once again,
This is another way to practice mindfulness.
With your mind completely focused on the sensation of your skin,
It's once again difficult for the mind to wander.
And if it does,
No worries.
You simply notice and bring it back right to what you were focused on.
You see,
My friends,
Mindfulness,
And really the whole practice of meditating is not about emptying your mind.
You can't do that.
It's about choosing to focus your mind on what you want to focus on.
So when you practice these moments of mindfulness,
It's a lot like lifting weights.
You're getting reps in with controlling where your mind goes.
And the more reps you do,
The better you get at doing it.
You can see that it doesn't take hours and hours of doing this at one sitting.
In fact,
You could do this for one minute before you're entering into an important conversation,
A play session with your children,
Some work you need to do.
And when you do that,
You're signaling to your mind that you want to be present.
All in.
And now bring your awareness back to where you are.
Begin to notice the sounds around you.
When you're ready,
Maybe blink the eyes open.
Ah,
Noticing the things that are around you again.
Welcome back.
I'm so glad you came today.
