Welcome to the heart activated breathing meditation.
This meditation can be done sitting or lying and maybe you'll have your eyes open or maybe you'll have them closed.
So take in the first few moments to find a place you would like to meditate in today.
When you're feeling comfortable we're gonna start by simply noticing the breath coming in and the breath going out.
Maybe the breath is coming in through the nose and then gently out through the mouth or maybe you're breathing in and out of the mouth today.
So just taking a few moments just to notice just to observe and then maybe starting to breathe a little deeper than you would normally.
Just so there's a little bit of concentration for the mind.
Just breathing a little deeper a little fuller on each inhale and just gently breathing all the way out on the exhale.
I invite you to take your right hand and place it to the left side of your chest to bring some awareness to your heart space.
Maybe apply just a little bit of pressure not too much just so you can feel yourself breathing in and out feeling the chest rise and fall underneath the hand as you do.
So just allowing the next few moments to get into a nice deep breathing rhythm.
It's just slightly deeper than you would normally breathe.
Feeling the chest rise and fall in beneath the hand.
Feeling the ribcage expand perhaps and feeling the breath all the way out.
Just breathing in nice and deeply and then breathing out nice and deeply too.
Settling yourself into that rhythm.
Don't worry about anything else for now just focus on your own personal breathing rhythm just making sure that you're breathing ever slightly deeper than you would normally do.
Now from here on the next inhale I want you to imagine that the breath is going straight into your heart to bring the mind's attention the awareness as if you're breathing directly into the heart space directly into the heart itself.
Can you focus on the heart?
Can you focus on where the heart is inside your body?
Let's see if you can imagine physically feeling that breath going in through the heart and then into the lungs.
So obviously we can't physically breathe through a heart we breathe into our lungs but just the simple act of imagining this or concentrating on in the mind we can start to perhaps actually feel as if it's happening.
Maybe you can imagine the oxygen in the breath going directly into the heart and then the heart itself is pumping the oxygen along with your blood all around the body.
See if you can almost physically feel like you're breathing into the heart.
Now start to imagine that the breath is coming back into the heart on the way out too.
So instead of breathing in and out of your lungs the breath is coming into the heart then into the lungs and then out of the lungs and through the heart on the way out.
Really see if you can feel into the idea of the breath coming back through the heart on the way out too.
Imagine you can feel the breath coming out through the heart just as you can feel the breath coming in through the heart.
So taking a few moments to breathe in this way so breathing in through the heart and out through the heart.
Breathe in through your heart and breathe out through your heart.
Breathe in through the heart and breathe out through your heart.
See if you can keep the focus on breathing in and breathing out through your heart.
For the next few moments I will be silent just to allow you to fully concentrate on this idea to your own rhythm to your own speed.
And then I invite you to start to notice how your body feels as you breathe in this way.
Become aware of any feelings or sensations that might be arising.
And then I invite you to start to notice how your mind feels when you breathe in in this way.
Maybe it feels clear,
Maybe it doesn't feel anything other than the concentration of coming in and out of the heart.
So now that we're fully into the heart activated breathing take a moment to think if there's a question or something that you might need an answer to and when that comes up into your mind I invite you just to sit with it and see what comes up.
Know that whatever comes up is coming from the place of your mind and heart now being in alignment.
So again I'm going to be quiet for a few moments and just allow whatever to come or not come.
Maybe it's a feeling that arises,
Maybe some thoughts or ideas arise,
Maybe it's a bodily feeling or sensation that arises or maybe nothing arises at all in this moment.
So whatever does or does not show up is exactly what's meant to be there.
And then I invite you to turn your mind back to the feeling of breathing in and out of the heart.
Take a really deep inhale the biggest one so far on a really big exhale maybe even out of the mouth.
Release the right hand and let's take a moment to come back to our natural rhythm of breathing.
To breathe in in and out of the lungs again.
Taking a moment to feel the expansion of the rib cage as the lungs fill with the breath.
Maybe you can feel the stomach expanding on the inhale.
Just really noticing how it feels to breathe.
So just breathing deeply and fully in and out of the lungs.
And then take the deepest inhale that you've taken so far and the biggest eye out of the mouth to end the meditation.
So if your eyes were closed just gently blinking them open.
Just having a little look around the physical space where you are.
And just taking a moment to know that at any point during the day you can come back to the heart activated breathing.
Just a few moments of aligning the heart and the mind through the heart activated breathing will help to ground you and centre you.
And will bring you into the present moment.
