Hello and welcome to this short breathing meditation finding that still point within.
My name is Erin Joy and I invite you to take a moment to arrive so wherever you are and however you are you don't need to change what you're doing just give yourself permission to take a pause to just be here in this moment for the next 10 minutes or so just to be held so finding a seat that feels comfortable and supportive or lying down if that feels better but just somewhere where you can let your body settle.
Allow the eyes to gently close or soften your gaze and begin to turn your attention inward a lot of the times we spend looking outward through our sense of sight but with the eyes softly closed is it possible to turn your gaze to look within so begin by noticing your body the points of contact between you and the earth beneath you feel the weight of your body,
The support holding you,
The structure,
The bones propping the rest of the body and the senses upright allowing yourself to be held and bring a gentle awareness to your face open to a sense of softness across the jaw and your eyebrows and the spaces in between traveling down with the sense of softness to relax the shoulders,
Your hands and your belly nothing to do here and just for these next moments nowhere to be just arriving now gently bring your attention to the breath without the urge to change anything just notice your breath how are you showing up in this moment observing each inhale and the exhales and feel the breath as it moves in and out of the body observing where do you feel the breath most clearly so maybe it's apparent at the tip of the nose or maybe the rise and the fall of the chest or possibly the expansion of the belly allowing your breath to be an anchor if the mind wanders the breath as an anchor slowly brings you back to your attention to one focal point your breath so with this inward gaze observing the breath each inhale and exhale let it be easy let each breath be enough and now beginning to invite a sense of ease into the breath a smooth easy breath in through the nose and a gentle exhale through the mouth allowing the breath to lengthen without force and you might begin to count to four so as you inhale for 4,
3,
2,
1 and exhale for 4,
3,
2,
1 inhale for 4,
3,
2,
1 exhaling for 4,
3,
2,
1 and letting the breath become a soothing rhythm counting to four on the inhale like the waves of the ocean steady and calm and exhaling as you release for four counts and just knowing that in this moment you're safe here riding the waves of the smooth easy breath just like the ocean steady and calm each breath a reminder of your aliveness you are breathing and alive and that each breath is a gift something precious that we do day in and day out without a second thought and now allow your body to breathe for you as you let control go of the breath allowing it to return to its natural rhythm simply rest in this space breathing being allowing feel into the stillness within you a quiet place that's always there underneath the noise your true nature your calm sense of center let yourself rest here for a few more moments held by the breath held by this presence begin to gently bring awareness back into the body feeling the support of everything that's holding you upright in your seat or somewhere else wherever you decided to let your body rest start to wiggle your fingers and toes and taking a deep breath into the nose just a full belly breath and then exhale out the mouth with a sigh or sound of ha to let it go again a full belly breath in through your nostrils filling up front to back,
Side to side and with a sigh out through the mouth coming back to your space by gently opening the eyes returning to your little corner of your universe and inviting you to carry this sense of calm with you throughout the rest of your day knowing that this breath is always here to guide you home back to your true nature and taking one more moment for gratitude for showing up and taking the time to practice this meditation until we meet again this is Erin Joy,
Namaste
