Hello,
And welcome to this meditation practice.
My name is Leanne Benedict,
And it is an honor to guide you in this practice today.
Before we begin our official practice,
I would like to take a moment to teach you a mudra we will be using in our breath practice today.
And so to practice this mudra,
I invite you to take your right hand and turn the palm facing towards you,
And then you will curl your middle and pointer finger down towards the base of the thumb,
Which then leaves the thumb and then your ring and little finger extended outward.
And so when we do this practice,
We will take our thumb to begin with and gently place it on the right side of our nostril.
And this is a very gentle touch where we are not moving the nose out of alignment,
But just a gentle enough touch where we can close off the flow of breath through that nostril.
And so we use the thumb to close off the right nostril.
And alternately,
We use the ring and middle finger to close off the left nostril when we engage in this practice.
So just want you to be familiar with this mudra known as Vishnu mudra that we will be using today.
All right.
And so I invite you to take a moment right now to find your comfortable and supported seat in preparation for our practice.
And it is important that you feel supported and comfortable,
As well as a sense of uprightness or nobleness,
Along with ease.
And so check in with your body to see what that might be for you.
And it might require that you take a few moments to adjust your posture,
Adjust your seat,
Perhaps stretching or rolling the shoulders,
Moving the neck ever so gently to release any tightness or tension that may exist in your body right now.
And so as you take these few moments to move and adjust and get ready to settle in,
You might take a few breaths in and sigh out the exhale.
So taking a breath in,
And two more breaths in that way as you continue to stretch and move and settle in.
And now just a preparation to transition into our practice.
So bringing a sense of stillness and ease to your posture.
And simply notice right now that the body is breathing,
Simply observing the natural ebb and flow of the breath in and out.
Just observe your breath for five or so breaths.
And so we gently now will begin to bring some shape and structure to the breath.
So allowing the breath to come in and out the nose if it is not already.
So notice now the breath being received through the nostrils and exhaling through the nostrils.
Five breaths.
You might notice as you breathe there that there is some sound that is noticeable as you breathe.
And so the invitation now is to bring silence to the breath so that the breath is barely audible.
You can also begin to notice if there are any edges or bumps or breaks in the breath and begin to smooth out the edges of the breath.
Another five to seven breaths.
I invite you to notice where you feel the breath and if it is not already in the belly notice now and allow the breath to drop into the belly as if when you breathe in you are filling up a cup from the bottom up.
So allowing the breath to expand the belly as you breathe in and feeling your navel move back towards the spine as you exhale.
And so notice the belly moving as you breathe for about a minute.
As you continue to breathe in this way,
Gently allow the breaths to become even on the inhale and the exhale.
You might use a count of four as a starting point.
And so if we begin this together,
Taking a breath in one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And exhaling one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Using a count that feels comfortable for you,
Perhaps three or five or staying with four.
Continue to breathe now with the inhale being equal to the exhale.
Ten breaths.
This time I invite you to recall the mudra that we learned at the start of our practice.
So lifting up the right palm,
Facing it towards you and curling your middle and pointer finger down towards the base of the thumb and then gently placing the thumb on the right nostril ever so gently so as not to move the nose out of alignment.
And we will begin with an exhale through the left nostril,
Maintaining your count that you are using for your even inhale and exhale.
So beginning on the left,
Breathing in.
And then gently closing off the left nostril and exhaling on the right.
Inhale on the right.
And then closing off the right nostril,
Exhaling through the left.
Inhaling left.
And exhaling on the right.
Inhaling on the right.
And exhaling on the left.
Continue in this way,
Alternate nostril breathing for about six or seven breaths.
As you continue to breathe in this way,
Continue to keep the breath smooth.
The inhale equal to the exhale.
Breathing deeply into the belly.
Taking a few more breaths in this way and ending on the left nostril on the exhale.
And now releasing the mudra and just allowing your breath to enter,
Be received through both nostrils.
Continuing to breathe deep into the belly,
Allowing the inhale to be equal to the exhale.
Notice perhaps a sense of balance,
A sense of calm,
Presence,
Whatever your experience is right now.
And just take a moment to notice what might you be aware of that's happening inside of you right now and around you in your environment.
And now you will begin to take a few moments to ever so gently begin to transition from our practice.
So at your own pace,
You might gently open your eyes or lift your gaze if your eyes were closed.
You might take a moment to maintain this state of awareness that you have and look around the space that you're in.
Slowly turning your head from one side to the next,
Scanning the space that you're in.
While maintaining this sense of ease and calm and presence.
Continue to notice that your body is breathing.
If it feels comfortable for you,
You might take your hands and place it on your heart,
Offering a sense of support and comfort.
And now taking a deep,
Full breath in and exhale with sound.
And set an intention to carry this sense of presence,
Awareness,
And calm that is with you now through the rest of your day.
Thank you.
