Welcome,
And hopefully it's welcome back to our series,
Learning to Meditate,
A simple daily practice.
In this practice,
You'll get to notice the natural rhythm of your breathing,
Not to control it,
But to use it as a steady,
Calming point of reference for awareness.
And basically,
That's all there is to it.
The breath is always available for us.
And so when we come to this,
We want to be aware of the breath with a sense of gratitude.
Because without it,
Well,
We know what the alternative is,
Don't we?
So find a comfortable meditation posture,
Whether that be sitting on a chair with the knees at 90 degree angle,
Feet on the ground,
Long through the spine,
Or lying down,
Or sitting on a cushion,
Whatever it is that you find that you can sit here without discomfort.
We don't want to be distracted by discomfort.
So just find a relatively comfortable position and close the eyes down.
And as soon as you do,
If you become aware of the breath,
It's always there,
As you know.
It's just that generally we don't think about it.
We don't have to.
But now we're looking at it.
Not to change it,
Not to slow it down,
Not deepening it,
Just simply notice.
Just simply notice the breath moving in and out of the body.
It's always happening in the present moment,
Which makes it reliable and gentle.
And it's to support your awareness.
There's no need to do anything special.
Just allow the breath to breathe itself.
Nothing to do.
Notice where you're feeling the breath most.
Is it in the belly?
Belly rise and belly fall?
Or is it in the nostrils?
Cool on the way in,
Warm on the way out?
Just noticing the ins and outs of the breath.
Not labeling anything,
Just following it closely.
Just a gentle awareness of breathing happening.
From time to time,
You'll notice that your attention drifts away into thoughts and sounds and sensations,
To-do lists,
Etc.
That's completely natural.
When you notice that your attention has wandered,
Simply with kindness,
Bring it back to the breath.
And then foster a sense of gratitude for the body breathing.
You can only do for a few minutes without the breath.
This is the most important thing you do in your life.
Everything else is secondary.
The first thing you do when you come to this world is breathe in.
And the last thing you do is breathe out.
Every breath is a microcosm of life.
Simply be aware.
If the breath becomes shallow,
Let it.
Let it be exactly as it will.
And let the awareness rest with the breathing.
Simply watch the body breathing.
Be the witness of the breath.
Watch the body breathing.
Witnessing the breath.
Allow depth to happen.
Experience the breath.
And then simply start to be aware of the room that you're in.
Take control of the breath now by breathing the body.
Taking bigger breaths in and letting them out.
Big breath is in and letting them out.
This is always available for you wherever you are.
So when you're ready,
We,
In our next session,
Will learn how to work with distraction.
Thank you for practicing.
Pass it on to other people who may feel that this is necessary for them.
And follow me for the next session,
Working with distraction.
Thank you with much love,
From my heart to yours,
Yogi Phoenix.
