So if you feel comfortable closing your eyes,
You're welcome to.
If it is uncomfortable for you to close your eyes,
You're more than welcome to leave them open.
You can just gaze at a point on the ground a few feet ahead of you as a focal point.
And as you start to enter into meditation,
It can be really supportive to take a few deep breaths.
Breathing into the nose.
Letting it out through the mouth.
Relaxing the shoulders.
Relaxing the jaw.
Letting it out.
Really sending a message to the nervous system,
To the body.
And after your next deep breath,
Letting go of influence over the breath.
Again,
Shifting into this observational state of attention.
And as a warm-up to start to move into the senses,
We're going to open up to the sense of sound.
So shifting your attention into the soundscape.
Beginning to bring this non-judgmental aspect into your awareness.
This receptivity as you allow sounds to come to you.
Just getting curious.
Sounds come one at a time into your awareness.
Noticing the plane outside.
Noticing the sound of your own breath.
Noticing the hum in the building.
And my voice.
And now starting to shift your awareness into the felt sense of the body.
So again,
With curiosity.
Without judgment.
It's okay if there is judgment.
That's normal.
But with the intention not to judge.
Just getting a general sense of the body laying here or sitting here.
Noticing the shape of the body.
Noticing the points of contact between your body and the ground.
So feeling how the back of your body presses up against the mat.
How the backs of your legs,
The bottom,
Press up against the mat if you're sitting.
Starting to connect with this sense of gravity as it's holding you in place.
And allowing yourself to start to rest in this feeling of being held by the earth.
And now starting to become aware of the breath.
Again,
Not needing to control or change the breath.
As much as possible not judging the breath.
But just getting curious as to what the sensations of breathing feel like.
And I'm going to walk you through a little exploration of the points where we can usually most easily feel the breath.
I encourage you to find one that feels most apparent to you.
So starting with the expansion and contraction of the diaphragm and the stomach.
Directing your attention to the movement of the breath and the belly.
It can be helpful to put a hand on your stomach.
And feel the hand move with the breath.
Really noticing the full movement of the in-breath.
And noticing the full movement of the out-breath.
And it can be helpful to whisper inwardly to yourself.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Breathing in.
And just letting that be about 5% of your attention.
Letting the other 95% be the sensations of the breath moving.
And now shifting your attention up to the shoulders and the chest.
Starting to bring awareness into the sensations of the breath there.
And hopefully you can put a hand on your chest.
Feel movement there.
And again just watching,
Observing,
Feeling.
Not needing to change or judge.
And now finally moving your attention to the nostrils.
To the area just above your upper lip.
And starting to become aware of the nose breathing in cool air.
Carbon dioxide.
And as you feel these sensations,
Again,
It's available to you.
It feels helpful.
Just whispering to yourself,
Breathing in.
And now choosing which of these three spaces is most accessible for you.
And directing your attention to the movement of the breath in that spot.
And just staying here.
Resting here in the sensations of the breath.
There's nowhere to go.
There's nothing to do.
So much as watch and rest your awareness in each full in-breath.
And each full out-breath.
And I'll come back in to remind you,
But anytime you notice that you've gotten distracted by a thought or an itch or anything at all,
That's okay.
Just noticing that and shifting your attention.
Choosing to move your attention back to the anchor of your breath.
And it's okay if there are thoughts swimming around.
Doing your best to allow them to fall into the background.
Choosing to focus your breath in the foreground.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
One in-breath.
Maybe you've gotten distracted and that's okay.
Just coming back.
This breath.
This moment.
And now wherever you are now,
You can let go of the focus on the breath.
Starting to open your awareness a little bit wider.
You want to let in sounds.
You want to start to feel the body laying here.
Just relaxing your attention open again.
Starting to notice the light or darkness shining through your eyelids.
Step into a sense of sight.
And in your own time,
You can slowly start to open your eyes.
Still feeling this connection to breath and body.
As you slowly start to integrate back into the space around you.
Maybe looking around and just observing the freshness of your vision.
Taking a few deep breaths if that feels good for you.
A little stretch maybe.
