Hello my friend,
Welcome to your practice.
Find a comfortable seat and sit with your spine tall.
Align the crown of your head over the base of your spine and prepare for your meditation.
Close down your eyes and just start to take a few deep breaths to lend you right here,
Right now.
Relax your belly,
Relax your jaw,
Relax your face.
And for the duration of your practice today just let yourself be here.
So let go of any to-do lists or a sense that you need to be anywhere else.
There's nothing else for you to do and nowhere else for you to be but right here,
Right now.
Bring your attention now to your breath.
Have your awareness just ride the waves of your breath,
In and out through your nose.
And as you inhale get a sense that you're taking in nourishing and purifying fresh energy.
And each time you breathe out get a sense that you release another layer of tension and another layer of thought.
So in a moment we'll begin to shape your breath.
So progressively working your exhales to be longer than your inhales and this will help to calm your mind and settle your nervous system.
And your one job is to make sure that each breath you take is one continuous smooth stream from start to finish.
So no bumps and no gaps just a smooth inhale and a smooth exhale.
Okay so just finish the breath you're on now emptying your lungs fully.
And then inhale for a count of four,
Three,
Two,
One and exhale for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Inhale four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhale eight,
Seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
And one.
And continue like that a few rounds inhaling for four and exhaling for eight.
And if that's not as comfortable as it could be just inhale for four and exhale for a few counts just longer than four.
Whichever is most comfortable for you.
Find a comfortable rhythm.
And the goal here is just to get the exhales longer than the inhales.
And if it's comfortable for you after you exhale feel free to invite a pause in to the bottom of that exhale with your breath held out.
So just pausing for a few moments there.
No counting or anything like that just comfortably empty silence and being in that spaciousness of that moment.
So in for four,
Out for eight or so and then pausing at the bottom.
Notice the effect this has on your body and your mind.
Okay another cycle just like that.
And then we'll start to wind it back in now so just inhaling carefully for a count of two and exhaling for four.
Gentle,
Effortless breathing.
Okay one more cycle like that.
And then you can release the counting and just return to a natural rhythm of breath.
So now fix your attention to the tip of your nose and just watch your breath so your awareness is still and sharp and fixed in one place as you witness your breath passing by in and out.
Your body is breathing itself and you're just watching.
Notice the growing sense of calm.
Keeping now your focus on the tip of your nose begin to expand your awareness outward so that you're not only aware of this tip of your nose but you're also now aware of the entire field of your mind.
So you have open awareness all the way to the back and all the way to the front.
All the way to the right and the left sides and all the way up and down.
Your awareness is expanding in all directions.
And here you are aware of all experiences at once.
So the space around you and your body and your thoughts and your feelings all at once.
And now without taking your awareness away from this open and expansive experience around and within you,
In time with your breath with no strain and no effort,
I want you to offer the following words.
I am loving awareness.
I am loving awareness.
I am loving awareness.
Notice how sometimes here you can remain open and aware in that expansive state and then sometimes something gets your attention so like a thought or sound or a feeling and then your awareness suddenly zooms into that one thing and then you've lost the whole.
Well when that happens remind yourself I am the loving awareness of that thing.
I'm a witness,
An observer.
And then just reopen your awareness back out again into that whole.
I am loving awareness.
Notice how any particularly strong or distracting thought or feeling is quickly softened and then dissolved as you welcome it in and then zoom out again and it becomes just another piece of this vast and spacious whole.
I am loving awareness.
And here you are remaining a steady witness to it all.
Open and available and without any resistance.
Melting into being.
Being,
Loving awareness.
And the only doing now is your repetition of that mantra.
And even that becomes more and more effortless as you allow it to almost sing through you itself.
I am loving awareness.
I am loving awareness.
Maybe now the mantra is so soft and natural that it's almost dissolving into itself.
Maybe it's just becoming loving awareness.
Loving awareness.
Remain open.
And fully aware now.
Aware and loving.
Continue to practice here like this for as long as you like.
You are loving awareness.
Namaste my friend and thank you.
