Welcome to your practice today.
My name is Karina.
And before we begin today's practice,
Please ensure that your mobile phone is on silent,
Just so you can enjoy this without disruption.
The world can wait for you a little while.
This is a great practice for one sitting in your chair and it ensures that you don't fall asleep.
It allows you to breathe more openly as well when we move into our very light breath work.
Area of this meditation.
If you have a cushion on the floor,
That's fine.
Some of you like to sit on a meditation cushion and cross your legs.
Just ensure your spine is straight.
Chair will be fine though.
Just ensuring you'll fade it flat on the floor.
Shoulders relaxed.
Spine nice and tall.
And your hands placed in your lap.
And I'll begin by grounding you at the beginning of this session and we'll move into some gentle breathing,
Which is perfect for beginners.
And it's just about having the attention to be present and moving that attention to the body and the breath and your surroundings today,
But in a non-judgmental way.
Mindfulness is all about being present,
Noticing.
But not judging.
Today's session is all about calming the mind,
Reducing stress,
Clearing your thoughts.
And today's exercise is fantastic for anyone experiencing anxiety or if you're with someone who may be experiencing anxiety and it can calm the nervous system very,
Very quickly.
So to begin,
If it feels right for you,
Lightly closing down your eyes,
Or you can softly gaze.
And bring your awareness into your body.
Just beginning with three nice deep inhales through the nose.
And exhaling out the nose.
And just let your attention drift to the soles of your feet.
Noticing sensations there.
Allow that ground beneath your feet to anchor you.
This gives you the feeling of safety.
And kiss the body.
Just move that attention through your body,
Going through your ankles.
Shins knees thighs,
Relaxing the thigh muscles.
Feeling the weight of the pelvis being supported in the chair.
All the cushions base of spine.
And just let your awareness follow your spine up very slowly.
Into the shoulder blades.
Into that base of the neck.
Noticing where your back makes contact with the chair if you're on a cushion just Now your back is straight and tall.
Allowing the shoulders to drop away from the ears.
Sometimes we hold tension in this area.
Simply pausing here for a breath.
Adjusting,
Loosening.
Just let your awareness go down to your fingertips.
The sensations there in the hands.
Noticing both arms past the wrists and elbows.
Upper arms,
Tops of shoulders.
Collar bones.
Easy breath in,
Easy breath out.
Softening the neck,
The front.
Sides,
The back.
Moving your awareness to the top of your head.
Into the forehead.
Raising the eyebrows a little and then relaxing,
Letting all those little muscles soften around the eyes,
The eyes.
Relax back into their sockets a little more.
Your jaw unclenches.
Noticing where the top lip meets the bottom lip.
Inhaling,
Feeling the coolness as you inhale through the nose,
How it moves down into the belly.
And the warmth as you exhale back out through the nose or the mouth is fine too.
Spending a few moments just being curious about your breath.
Observing your whole body through your awareness right here.
Right now.
Perhaps taking notice of what you can hear.
Can you hear something outside or inside?
Maybe both.
Can you smell.
.
.
?
Anything in particular.
Can you taste anything in particular?
Maybe your morning coffee or lunch?
Maybe.
.
.
And can you feel,
Can you feel where your clothing meets your skin?
Where your fate made the fall.
And as we move into our very gentle breathing exercises.
I'll just explain what it is.
This is called step breathing.
Pratylym.
And it means breaking the flow.
And for this practice we breathe in a little and we hold,
We breathe in a little,
Hold and again and again and we do that four times and then we breathe all of that air out for a count of eight.
And if you can't make it to a count of eight,
That's fine.
You just breathe out as far as you can.
And we just do that a few times.
And this is a beautiful practice that will calm,
Settle the nervous system,
Strengthen the lungs,
And increases that capacity in the lungs.
It's perfect for beginners as well.
So let's give this a try,
Sitting comfortably and up straight.
Easy breath in.
Exhaling all the air out of your lungs.
When you're ready,
In,
Hold.
In,
Hold.
In,
Hold.
In,
Hold.
And exhaling out forward.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
And in,
Hold.
In,
Hold.
In,
Hold.
In,
Hold.
And exhaling for 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
One more round,
In,
Hold,
In.
Hold in,
Hold in,
Hold and exhale for 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8 and just breathing normally now,
Resting here for a moment.
And we can do this three more times together.
Easy breath in,
Empty the lungs.
And when you're ready,
In,
Hold,
In,
Hold,
In,
Hold,
In,
Hold.
And exhale for 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
And in,
Hold,
In,
Hold,
In,
Hold,
In,
Hold.
And exhale for 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
One more time.
In,
Hold,
In,
Hold,
In,
Hold,
In,
Hold.
And exhale all the air out.
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
And rest here.
Breathe normal.
And spend a moment feeling the effect of this.
And let your awareness drop back into your body.
Feeling any sensations and warmth.
Good job.
Then take a moment to do a little body scan.
It's taking your awareness right to the top of your head.
I like to imagine a little bit of a ball of a light there.
And that light expands out.
Comes down your body.
Filtering through the face,
Down the neck.
Across the shoulders,
Shoulder blades.
Arms and fingers and torso just floating through.
Floats through the back to the lungs,
And around the spine,
Down into the pelvis.
Around the backs of the legs and the tops,
Just floating all the way down to your feet,
Toes,
Soles of feet.
Nice easy breaths in and out.
Allow that light to expand all the way around your body at least a metre,
Radiating.
Feeling the temperature here.
Maybe it's become cooler.
As the heart rate has slowed down.
Listening to what you can hear.
What you can smell.
Chain.
And how you feel with your support and where your body's touching your support.
Taking this feeling in.
Sitting in this energy.
Taking some nice deep breaths in through the nose.
Feeling them go into the belly,
Belly rising and falling.
This lifelong giving friend your breath knows exactly how to bring you into a state of calmness.
Together with your awareness and your attention.
Attention,
Intention.
Maybe wriggling your toes and your fingers,
Opening your eyes when you're ready.
And I like to end these sessions with a quote or a poem.
And today's is that there is a quiet wisdom in resting,
A deep intelligence in pausing.
You're tapping into that by being here.
Trust that everything will be waiting.
You'll return lighter,
Steadier,
And more alive.
You may like to have a little stretch,
Maybe putting the hands up to the sky above your head,
Putting your palms together and maybe just shimmering your fingers down.
And placing them in your lap.
And this completes our practice today.
I hope you have a really good day.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
If you wish to bring your palms together to heart space,
You can.
And I thank you for being here.
May this calmness and energizing work follow you all throughout the day and your week.
Namaste.
Thank you.
