Hi,
I'm Sarah from Mataya,
And it is the short breath meditation.
You are going to spend some time now simply sitting with awareness of your breathing.
If possible,
Take your usual meditation spot,
Somewhere you can sit quietly for a while without being disturbed.
Allow yourself this time to let go of daily habits and responsibilities and shift into a mode of being.
Sit down unless sitting is difficult for you.
In that case,
Choose any posture in which you feel comfortable.
If you are sitting,
See if you can relax and sit with an upright spine,
Your pelvis gently tilted forward on a chair,
A meditation bench or a cushion.
Let your posture express a sense of openness and dignity.
Let your physical posture reflect the attitude with which you want to meet your meditation experience.
This meditation is about bringing awareness to your breath,
And the intention is to do so in a friendly,
Open way.
Now I invite you to bring your attention to your breathing and feel how you inhale and how you exhale.
There is no particular way you should be breathing.
You may notice that your breath is deep,
Or you may notice that it is shallow.
Simply follow the breath without trying to change it.
This is a time in which nothing needs to be achieved.
Just notice how your breath moves your body,
Your belly,
Your chest,
Wherever you feel the movement of the breath.
Gently focus on the rising and falling of the abdomen,
Or wherever the breath is most clear to you.
Give full attention to each in-breath and each out-breath.
Most people notice,
After just a few minutes of following the breath,
That the attention drifts away,
Again and again,
And that is perfectly fine.
This is simply the nature of the mind.
The only instruction is this.
When you notice you have wandered off,
Simply come back,
In a friendly,
Open way.
You drift away,
And you come back to the breath.
Whether you return ten times or a hundred times,
The practice is the same,
Gently returning to the breath.
Notice how the in-breath begins,
How it continues,
And how it turns into the out-breath.
Follow the exhale into its moment of stillness,
Until the impulse to inhale arises again,
And so the cycle continues,
In and out.
And when you notice you have drifted,
Bring your attention back to the breath,
Back to the here and now,
And there is no need to feel you have done anything wrong.
By simply noticing you were elsewhere,
You are already back,
And you begin again,
Following the breath,
Giving all your attention to the breath in this moment.
The breath is always a powerful way to return to the present moment,
A kind of anchor.
And where is your attention now?
Just notice it,
And it doesn't matter where you were.
Once you notice it,
You are already here,
And you have the choice to guide the attention gently back to the breath.
And you may also notice irritation or frustration when you see that your mind has wandered,
Perhaps thoughts like,
I can't do this,
Annoyance with the practice,
With yourself,
Or with whatever distracts you.
But you don't need to stay with that irritation.
Just let it be.
You can label it,
Name it,
If you want,
And then simply return your attention to the breath,
Gently and patiently with yourself.
And these impulses,
Thoughts,
Feelings,
All that comes up in you are simply experiences.
You notice them,
And there is no need to judge them.
Stay present with the flow of the in-breath and out-breath from moment to moment.
And where are you now?
If you notice that your attention has wandered,
Gently but firmly bring it back to the breath and to the body as it sits here now.
There is nothing you need to do.
You are simply practicing here,
Still,
Present,
Breathing.
A breathing body,
Fully here with yourself.
And before we end,
Take a brief moment to feel gratitude.
Gratitude that you took this time for yourself,
That you practiced,
That you showed up with awareness and intention.
And even the simple act of sitting,
Breathing,
And noticing is something meaningful.
In a moment,
You will hear the bell.
When you do,
You may gently open your eyes if they were closed and allow yourself to make a smooth,
Unhurried transition back into the rest of your day,
Bringing with you this sense of presence,
Softness,
And calm.
Thank you.
