And as you arrive in your practice today,
I'd like you to begin by taking the deepest breath you have taken all day in through the nose,
Fill up the whole body with beautiful breath and it's a really slow exhale through the mouth.
Nicely done,
Take two more of those in your own time and really let the breath take up space.
Wrap your full awareness in the presence of the breath.
And when you've come to an end of those two rounds allow the lips to gently close and continue to breathe with awareness through the nostrils.
And we're starting to smooth out the breath here.
Notice if there is a quality of edginess and gently soften into a smoothness of breath.
It's almost like the breath if it were a shape was a square and now it's becoming a circle.
Smooth and round.
And you're just exploring in these moments how expanded your breath can be.
Can you allow the breath to take up more space in the body by employing the rib cage a little bit more,
By softening the jaw,
Smoothing out the forehead,
Releasing the hips down toward the ground.
Are you able to receive even more beautiful breath?
When you are with the breath fully in the felt experience you can't be in the past and you can't be in the future.
You can only be here.
Just take a moment to notice what here feels like.
The felt sense of presence.
You're doing really beautifully just being here.
Don't make your meditation practice another task to do.
Make it something that you be,
That you rest into.
Nicely done.
I now like you to place your awareness at the tip of your nose and simply watch the breath.
Can you feel the breath coming in through the nostrils and then releasing from the same place?
Perhaps you notice a quality difference in the temperature of the breath going in and breath going out.
And then noticing the breath in the center of the throat.
The breath in the center of the throat.
Notice the breath in the center of the chest.
Breath taking up more space.
Breath in the center of the ribcage.
Breath in the center of the stomach.
And noticing here the stomach rising and falling with every breath.
We want our stomach to rise with the inhale and to soften back in toward the spine with the exhale.
Belly breathing.
Allowing the rib cage to be part of that motion of the breath.
And when we work into this breath that we're about to move into,
My recommendation in the breath hold or the retention is to soften as much as you can the physical body.
And allow yourself just to be in the pause,
In the stillness today.
So when you're ready take the deepest breath you have taken or practice.
It's a real drawing of the breath up through the nose.
Exhale through the mouth let it all go.
Inhale through the nose.
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold the breath suspend.
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale eight,
Seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Suspend six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Suspend six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Beautiful.
Continue as your own teacher with the four,
Seven,
Eight breath.
In for four,
Hold for seven,
Out for eight.
Make this work for your breath and your body today.
If you need to alter it you can.
Take one more round of 4,
7,
8 for your variation.
And then allow your breath to return to a natural,
Subtle rhythm.
And if you haven't released the physical body fully just yet,
Allow the shoulders to release,
Allow the face to soften.
And if you are seated and you want to alter your position to lying down for the next stage of our practice,
Please feel free to move into that position.
We're going to begin this visualization meditation by bringing to mind a moment of love.
It might have been today,
It might have been more recently,
Or it might have been way back in the past.
Bring to mind a moment of love.
And not only to mind,
But allow the good to land and bring it into the cellular feeling of the body.
Exploring that moment of love.
Who were you with?
What were you doing?
And what was the feeling internally?
And allow that loving feeling internally to morph into a beautiful golden yellow light.
And we're going to place this light through the body.
Notice both ears,
Left and right,
And then between both ears in the center of the head,
Place this golden yellow light at warmth.
And then noticing both shoulders left and right.
And then in the center between the shoulders,
Place that beautiful warm glowing light.
Notice the rib cage left and right.
And in the middle of the rib cage,
Place that golden light.
And then noticing the left hip and the right hip.
And directly in the center of the hips,
You place that golden light.
Noticing the lovely length of light that moves up through the central line of you.
The head,
The torso,
The hips.
And then allow the light through the central line to wash through the entire body.
So it moves from the center to the very edges of you,
To your skin,
To your muscles,
To your tissues,
To your bones.
This beautiful golden light washing through the entire system.
And this light has a beautiful power to release any stuckness,
Any stagnancies in the cells.
And to replenish them with love,
With light,
With vitality.
The whole body glowing with golden light.
Notice any sensations as you work through this visualization.
Where do you feel it?
Where do you sense it?
And then imagine that golden light leaving the body and the edges of the body and entering now from your central line into the space that you're in.
Into the room.
The whole room starting to glow and get warmer with this central light.
Notice how this beautiful golden light makes it so easy to breathe fully and deeply with spaciousness.
And not only does this golden light now come from the center of you into the room,
But it starts to seep out of the room and into the building that you're in.
Imagine every room in this building starting to glow with this golden warmth.
The people involved in the house also starting to feel the effects of this golden glow.
And they suddenly feel a little bit warmer,
A little bit brighter.
And you wish them well.
And the golden light doesn't stop there,
It wants to expand into the area that you're in.
Into the surrounding buildings.
Into the streets.
Into the parks.
Into the beach.
This golden light stretches now across the town that you're in.
Across the city that you're in.
Into the whole country.
And from the country it moves into the oceans through the ocean surface and depths until it spans the entire globe.
This light coming from the center of you,
You have so much that it expands the entire globe.
Visualize the earth glowing with a warmth.
And you extend your warmth,
Your love to all beings on this globe,
Wishing them well.
Coming back through that journey,
Back to the country you're in.
Back to the town.
Back to the building.
Back to the room.
Back to your body.
And specifically your central system that is glowing with a warm golden light.
Start to gently expand the breath once again.
Noticing at this stage in your practice the current state,
The current experience from within.
And you might choose to slowly awaken the fingers,
Awaken the toes.
And if it feels appropriate you might roll the neck a little bit.
And take all the time you need to slowly blink the eyes open.
It might feel appropriate for you to take a bit of a stretch.
You could reach the hands up and over the head,
Stretching toes to fingers,
Fingers to toes.
