Welcome to the 20-minute breath and body meditation.
So the intention for this practice is waking up to the automatic pilot and coming home to our senses.
Can we pay attention to the breath,
The body and any sensations?
And with an attitude of non-striving,
Allowing the experience to be just as it is.
And bringing a curiosity to our experience in the present moment.
And perhaps there is another attitude that you'd like to focus on for this practice.
And just bringing that to your attention.
And now just finding a comfortable position.
And perhaps if sitting on a chair,
Just practicing sitting away from the back of the chair so that the spine is self-supporting.
And perhaps making sure that the feet are flat on the floor,
Bringing a sense of grounding to the experience.
And when you are ready,
Gently closing the eyes if that feels comfortable.
If not,
Just letting the gaze fall unfocused on the floor.
And just finding a place of comfort.
Now moving to the sense of hearing.
Noticing sounds outside the room.
And practicing not identifying the sounds.
Just hearing the sound.
And now moving to sounds inside the room.
The sound of my voice.
Just allowing sounds to come and go as they please.
And now making a conscious choice to allow ourselves to be exactly as we are in this moment.
Practicing awareness of thoughts and emotions as they come and go.
Bringing an awareness to the sense of touch.
Paying particular attention to awareness of sensations in the body as we encounter them.
And when it feels right,
Gently noticing the movement of the breath.
The breath is such a constant feature of life that it's easy to ignore.
So taking time with it now.
Actually feeling the sensations as the breath rolls in.
And rolls out.
And allowing it to move through its cycle of in-breath and out-breath.
Not trying to control it in any way.
Maybe sensing the rise and fall of the tummy.
Or the feeling of air in the nostrils.
Cool air entering.
The warm air leaving.
And maybe if it feels right for you,
Placing the hands on the tummy.
Feeling the movement of the breath.
The rhythm.
Just letting the breath roll in.
And roll out.
Just riding the waves of the breath from moment to moment.
And if at any time during this practice,
Sensations become too uncomfortable or thoughts carry us away to the past or the future or perhaps emotions arise that are just too uncomfortable remembering that it's always possible to return to the rhythm of the breath as refuge.
Practicing coming back and being with the breath or perhaps using the feeling of the feet on the floor as an anchor.
And just staying there until we're ready to join the meditation again.
And just tuning in and listening to the sound of my voice once again.
So now moving awareness to the level of physical sensations in the body.
Investigating the experience of a very alive body.
And how this aliveness is known through the senses.
What is your experience in the body now?
Perhaps becoming aware of attention on the sensations of touch of pressure and contact where the body meets the floor or with whatever you are sitting on.
And now exploring the breath in the body and the changing patterns of physical sensations in the body.
So perhaps the expansion on the in-breath and returning to neutral on the out-breath.
Where do we feel the breath most vividly?
Perhaps in the throat or the upper chest maybe.
Perhaps imagining that there is a balloon in the tummy.
Every time we breathe in noticing that the balloon inflates and every time we breathe out noticing that the balloon deflates.
And as best we can staying in touch with the changing physical sensations in the tummy for the full duration of the in-breath and the full duration of the out-breath.
Maybe there is a slight pause between the end of the in-breath and the following out-breath.
Just noticing that moment when the in-breath shifts to the out-breath.
There is no need to try and control the breathing in any way.
Simply letting the body breathe by itself as best we can bringing a freshness maybe a beginner's mind to exploring the body as we breathe.
There is nothing that needs to be fixed and no particular state to be achieved.
Just simply surrendering to the experience as it is without requiring it to be anything other than just inhaling and exhaling.
Then you may find that the mind has wondered and this is absolutely fine,
This is normal maybe just bringing awareness to the type of thought acknowledging it exploring our relationship to this thought wondering how much of a pull it has on us and then coming back to the practice and perhaps coming back to our anchor the breath and continuing to follow the whole in-breath with our attention and the full duration of the out-breath and just being present to the sensations of the breath in the body and what is our experience now?
Perhaps emotions arising simply watching with a gentle curiosity and not trying to analyze them in any way just softening judgments about having them and then back to the anchor of the breath or the feet on the floor and when you are ready expanding the attention to include the entire body from the soles of the feet to the top of the head just being present to the totality of the experience of sitting here in this moment and gathering onto the sensations of the breath noticing how the breath has been a constant companion throughout this practice and how it brings the whole body together and feeling the earth beneath us perhaps under the feet or if laying down the back on the surface below you and just with a sense of being here in this present moment the breath rolling in and rolling out and perhaps bringing the breath all the way in and as we breathe out sending it all the way down through the body imagining it is going out through the ground breathing in and breathing out down into the earth with a sense of grounding ourselves and when you are ready gently turning awareness to sounds in the room perhaps the sounds outside of the room and then maybe starting to move and stretch in any way that feels good right now and taking time to open the eyes and come back into the room the breath and body meditation is now complete
