Welcome to the breathing space.
The breathing space is a brief practice,
A short pause to drop in with your experience and a step out of doing mode into being mode.
So to begin,
Hearing these words from Philippians 4.
Rejoice in the Lord always.
Again I will say rejoice.
Let your gentleness be known to everyone.
The Lord is near.
Resting in the awareness that the Lord is here with you in this moment.
And so beginning now with a broad awareness of your experience in this moment.
Noticing thoughts and feelings passing through moment to moment.
Noticing sensations in the body,
Points of contact with the floor or chair,
Temperature,
Blood flow,
Areas of tightness or relaxation,
Whatever else you might find in the body.
And noticing any particular urges or behaviors as you check in here with how you're doing.
Turning attention toward yourself with gentleness and kindness as you take a moment to lean in to ground yourself in this present moment.
And now narrowing the attention to the sensations of breath in this body that God has made.
Noticing where you feel the breath most easily,
Most vividly.
Perhaps this is in the chest as it rises or falls or in the abdomen as the diaphragm moves up and down.
Maybe this is the air moving just beneath the nose,
Noticing that coolness of the air as it comes in and then the warmth of the air coming out after being warmed by the lungs.
So wherever you choose to focus your attention,
Just being aware of these physical sensations,
Feeling the air moving in.
Noticing as it comes into the body and then feeling the air moving out,
Just being present to the out-breath as it happens.
Resting your awareness on the in-breath and the out-breath.
And now broadening your attention once again,
This time to the sensations of air moving throughout the body as if the whole body is breathing.
Imagining the air moving through the nose and then filling every space from the head to the toes as you breathe in.
And then emptying out of every space in the body as you breathe out.
Resting in this rhythmic movement of the breath as it moves all on its own,
The body breathing itself.
And as you're ready,
Gently opening your eyes,
Broadening your attention to the space around you.
Recognizing God's presence here with you as you proceed with the rest of your day.
Go in peace.
