Let's begin by taking a moment to allow your body to settle.
Find a comfortable position that allows your spine to be long,
But with a natural curve in the lower back.
You can either close your eyes or keep them open with a soft gaze downward just a few feet in front of you.
As you take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth,
Just let the belly and shoulders relax.
Today I'll guide you through a focused attention practice where we focus attention on the breath.
This will help us to calm our mind and also to relax the body.
So before we start the practice,
Let's take a full deep breath in.
Breathing in through the nose and a long breath out through the mouth.
Now just allow the breath to find its natural rhythm,
Breathing in and out.
So let's begin this practice by connecting with what draws you here.
It may be a wish for greater well-being for yourself and for others.
It may be a desire for some rest and calm.
It may be something else.
Just bring that to mind.
Now bring your awareness to the breath.
As you breathe,
You may notice movement of the abdomen or the chest.
You may notice sensations of air passing at the tip of the nose.
It could be the sensation of air passing through the throat.
Or maybe it's a sense of the whole body breathing.
Wherever the sensation is most vivid for you,
Just allow your attention to rest there.
Breathing in and breathing out.
So in focusing on the breath,
Can you notice the moment when the inhale begins?
How it continues and then the moment it ends?
Can you notice the very moment when the exhale begins?
Just notice,
Is there a slight pause between the exhale and the next inhale?
Is there a pause between the exhale and the inhale?
Try to keep your attention focused through one complete cycle of breath.
Let's see if you can sustain your focused attention on the breath for another additional breath.
And then another complete cycle of breath.
Allow the breath to be a kind of home base,
An anchor for our awareness.
Just focusing our attention on the breathing out and the breathing in.
Thoughts will come and thoughts will go.
There's no need to push them away or to chase after them.
When the mind wanders,
Just come back to the breath.
Come back to the moment,
Right here,
Right now.
Breathing.
And now let's finish this focused attention practice by taking a full deep breath in.
Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.
As we just draw our attention back to the room and open our eyes.
