This is Joshua Young and you are listening to a meditation on breathing gently.
So to get started,
Do your best to make your way onto either your right or your left side.
And if you find that that pose is one that's inaccessible for you,
Just make your way into your most comfortable position.
And so just do your best to support yourself,
Maybe pillows beneath the head,
Maybe pillows underneath the knees or between the knees.
Just do everything you can do to make sure that you are comfortable and relaxed.
And so once you get in your comfortable position,
Just start to notice the breath.
Notice the in and out through the nose.
Notice the lifting on the inhale and the falling back on the exhale.
And so you're not needing to change anything.
You're just noticing what the body feels like and noticing what the breath feels like in the body.
And so the breath serves us and reminding us where we can come back to if we find that our mind wanders off during this time.
And so in meditation,
We call the breath the anchor.
It helps us to return back to ourselves even if the thoughts take us as far away as possible.
We always have this opportunity to return to our breath and to ourselves whenever we notice this happening.
And so in this meditation,
That's something that might happen for you.
And if you find yourself thinking the only thing you need to do is the moment you notice that you've been taken away from the practice,
Just bring the attention back to the breath and back to the belly.
And so this is the practice.
Just breathing in through the nose and breathing out of the nose.
And so the practice will be 20 breaths.
Just in and out and coming back to yourself when you realize that you drifted away.
And so just continue with your breath in and out and I'll just remind you to come back every now and then and I'll even share with you where we are in the count.
So just allow yourself to fall a little bit deeper into relaxation and begin the breath in through the nose and out of the nose.
And so just start to notice what the first five breaths feel like.
And just continue breathing in through the nose and out of the nose and just notice how the body continues to make changes.
And so noticing any changes in the body now that you've taken about 10 breaths.
And if you haven't taken exactly 10 breaths,
Just continue to breathe in and out through the nose knowing that you have all the time that you need.
And so you might have about five more breaths left.
But if you find that you have more,
Just continue moving at your own pace.
Just inhaling through the nose,
Exhaling through the nose and noticing what the body feels like and how it responds to your gentle breath.
And so just continue.
Continue with your last few breaths in and out through the nose.
And if you have more breaths that you need to complete,
Just continue taking breaths very gently.
There's no need to rush.
There's no need to change pace.
Just continue to let the breath move through you.
And if you feel that you've completed the breaths,
Then just take this as your opportunity to notice the length of your inhale and the length of your exhale.
And so you can just start to notice where your body is.
You can start to notice what your body feels like.
And you're just noticing whatever the body is in contact with.
Noticing how it feels to be held up.
And whenever you're ready,
You can just gently come back up into a comfortable seat.
Notice what's happening around you and take this as your opportunity to show gratitude to yourself in some way.
Again,
My name is Joshua Young,
And it's been such a pleasure meditating with you.
Thank you.
