Breath Awareness

Join our weekly community meditation sessions online. Recorded in the evening and suitable to be practiced at any time of the day.

Suitable for all levels.

Class Three:

An introduction to observing the breath throughout the body and paying isolated attention on the out breath.

Tools: This meditation will provide tools for visualisation and concentration.

Key words: Connecting, energy, sacred geometry

Transcript

Okay,

And then deciding you can sit or lie down,

Finding the best position for your body tonight.

Making sure you feel warm enough,

You might like a blanket.

Yeah,

We'll wake you up.

And as you find your position,

Just scanning and observing,

Looking for symmetry,

As much symmetry as it feels right for your body tonight.

Scanning,

Observing the left side of your body,

Scanning and observing the right side of your body,

Making any adjustments that you need to feel balanced,

Able to release into this position.

If you're sitting,

You might like to tuck your chin in just a little bit and open up the back of your neck.

Checking in with your hands,

Feeling into whether you would like the energy tonight to move inward,

In which case bring your palms down.

Or if perhaps you'd just like to open your energy body,

Then bringing your palms up.

You might feel like you want a bit of both,

And so one palm is up and one palm is down,

And that is a lovely way to rebalance.

And if your eyes are open,

Just gently looking around the space,

Taking in the light and shapes.

If your eyes are closed,

Then just observing the gentle light behind your eyelids,

Perhaps detecting colours.

And if it feels right,

You can close the eyes if they're open,

Or you might just hold them in a soft gaze in front of you,

Just allowing your eyes to release and relax.

And now gently bringing your awareness to your sense of hearing,

Perhaps travelling your awareness to the sounds outside the room tonight,

Or inside the room.

As you connect to your sense of hearing,

You might even be able to detect the sounds of your own body,

Your breath,

Your heartbeat,

The rumblings of your digestive system.

Just allowing your sense of hearing to rest,

Receiving the sounds around you,

Like ripples on a still water.

And as you breathe in,

Allowing your awareness to travel to your sense of smell,

Connecting with the lining of your nose,

Back of your throat,

Seeing if you can detect any smells.

And perhaps from that point,

You can travel your awareness into your sense of taste,

Connecting with your tongue,

Your teeth,

Beneath your tongue,

The roof of your mouth,

Just really appreciating the incredible receptor of information that you experience as taste.

You might find your body responding,

Perhaps your tummy,

Connected through that nervous system,

From the tongue all the way down into the tummy.

And just gently now,

Spreading into your sense of touch.

You might like to begin with the areas of your body that are connected to the air,

Perhaps your hands or face.

You might be able to feel the temperature of the air on your skin,

Compared with the temperature of your skin that's in touch with your blanket or your clothes.

Perhaps feeling your body weight on the floor,

Just allowing your awareness to move from point to point,

And allowing now the breath to deepen just a little,

And release,

Taking three or four deep releasing breaths.

You might like to sigh on the out-breath,

Or hum even,

If your body needs that deeper release.

Just three to four conscious deep breaths.

And then,

Just finding an anchor,

Something to connect yourself back to this moment that you can call on throughout the meditation.

Perhaps it was the weight of your body that you really felt anchored to.

It could even be a word,

Be creative perhaps,

Your sense of smell was what felt most alive tonight.

And just allowing an anchor to arise,

And just knowing that you can return at any point of the meditation back into that anchor,

Back to that home base.

We're going to now connect the breath to the body,

And breathing in and taking that breath all the way down into your toes.

Breathing down all the way into your big toe,

You don't need to deepen your breath,

Just directing your awareness there,

Through the breath,

Second toe,

Third toe,

Fourth and little toe,

And the balls of your feet,

Breathing your awareness into the balls of your feet.

Cross the bridges into the heels of your feet.

Perhaps spreading that awareness across the tops and into the ankles of both feet.

Both feet bathed in your awareness,

Having travelled with you all day,

Taking you where you needed to be,

Allowing some time now just to connect through your breath with your feet.

And perhaps moving your awareness now into your calf muscles,

Your shins,

Breathing into your lower legs,

Into your knees and kneecaps,

And travelling your breath up your legs,

Deeply connecting with your thighs,

Giving you strength all day,

Allowing them to let go,

Responding to that loving awareness as you breathe into your hips,

Your thighs,

Buttocks muscle,

That whole connective tissue that keeps you mobile all day,

Allowing it to let go.

Travelling your awareness now to the sides of your body,

Your waist,

Into your bowels and reproductive organs,

Digestive system,

Breathing deep into the coccyx bone,

Travelling your breath gently up the spine,

Coming past the diaphragm,

Tummy,

The first few ribs,

And deeply sensing your internal system,

Heart,

Lungs,

Your lymph nodes under your arms,

Travelling your breath and awareness into the shoulders,

Down the arms,

Upper arms,

Breathing into your elbows,

Allowing your breath to move now into your lower arms,

Forearms and wrists,

The palms of your hands,

Your knuckles,

Fingers,

All the way breathing down to your fingertips and nails,

Seeing if you can sense that point between your nails and your fingers,

That meeting point.

Perhaps now on the next in-breath taking your awareness up your arms,

Tracing a line of awareness with the breath,

Back up to the shoulders,

Coming back into the spine of the neck,

Those little vertebrae all the way up to the base of your skull,

Feeling into your jaw,

Breathing into the muscles of your jaw,

Your gums,

Your tongue,

The roof of your mouth,

Breathing your awareness into the nasal cavities,

Inner ear,

That whole muscle of the brain,

Just breathing your awareness across your scalp and down the front of your face,

Your eyes and eyebrows,

Your temples and cheeks,

And just for a moment connecting your breath with your whole body,

Your whole body from your toes,

Fingers,

Heart,

Head,

The whole body,

Connected through your breath and through your loving awareness.

And now allowing that awareness just to rest on the breath,

It might be the tummy muscles that you can sense your breath or the diaphragm,

Perhaps the back of your ribs gently shifting up as you breathe in,

Ever so gently shifting down as you breathe out,

Perhaps sensing your breath in your nostrils tonight or the back of your throat,

Just allowing the body to guide you to where you can connect with your breath.

Perhaps now we will just focus on your out breath,

Just allowing your awareness to settle on your out breath.

You might find that as you breathe out you can release just a little more,

Just letting the in breath happen without too much consideration and deeply connecting with the out breath,

Perhaps seeing any tension releasing into the earth as you breathe out,

And just scanning the body and sensing where does the out breath need to be directed,

Or perhaps it's just resonating with a particular part of your body that wants a little bit of attention,

Connection tonight.

Just allowing the breath to arrive like a wave arriving on the shore,

Joining the ocean as you release and breathe out,

And enjoying that gentle ebb and flow,

Feeling it resonate both in your body and in your awareness.

Taking that stillness now as you release into silence,

Just enjoying the sensations that you have connected and created,

Allowing yourself just to be for the next few moments.

Very gently and in your own timing,

Beginning to connect with your sense of touch,

Your body on the floor,

Your hands and face connected to the air around you,

Connecting once again with your sense of taste,

Your sense of smell,

Breathing in,

Perhaps a little deeper,

Gently awakening now your hearing,

Taking your awareness to the sounds around you,

And only when you feel ready,

Opening your eyes,

Taking in the shapes,

Textures and colours,

Allowing the body to come into movement,

Perhaps wriggling your fingers and toes,

Making any movements that you need to,

To bring the body back.

Waking it up.