And setting yourself up in a position now that feels both comfortable and upright you might let the shoulders start to fall away from the ears relax the space between the eyebrows right at the center of the forehead and finding a shape where you can settle where you can be still there's a sense of uprightness through the back of the body as you be and breathe here you may allow the eyes to gently close or you might just soften down your gaze as you now become aware of the fact that you are in fact breathing here following the rhythm the waves of the breath as it draws in and out of the body right through that entry and exit point at tip of the nose the full embracing of the breath as it travels in and the full release of the breath as it travels back out again maybe for you it might feel helpful now to detect where it is that you most easily notice the breath so that might be right down into the belly maybe into the ribs into the chest maybe again it's that entry and exit point right at the tip of the nose maybe it's a sense of the entire body breathing becoming a little more consciously aware now of the relationship that this physical body this physical shape has with your breath the changes the subtleties the sensations that arise and leave again out of the field of your awareness just as you breathe in and just as you breathe out without a sense of forcing or striving or trying to change or control just gently riding on the wave of the breath moment to moment the sensations in the body of the breath as it comes in and wherever it is in the body that you might feel the breath as it draws back out without pushing or forcing whatsoever just allowing the breath to be as it is moment by moment by moment moment by moment by moment breath by breath by breath finding the sense almost like you're observing you're witnessing or you're watching the breath allowing your attention to include the full unfolding of the inhale that rise of the belly that lift of the chest and the full falling away of the breath out as everything just softens lands releases a little more the full breath in the full falling away of the breath out each held met embraced met fully in awareness just as best as you can moment by moment by moment breath by breath by breath breath by breath just this very moment with the breath coming in to the body just this breath out as the breath leaves each moment met each breath met held in awareness just as it is just as you are moment by moment by moment and breath by breath by breath and as you sit here now resting the attention in this way it's pretty inevitable that you find that the mind gets hijacked or sidetracked in some way it gets called upon to some past conversation or some future event and find so often that we get stuck in this point of worry or an anticipation of what may be to come and the truth is that neither what's been or what is yet to come is actually in our control that the only moment that we do have the only moment that we can do anything about is just this moment right here without a need to fix or change or alter it without a needing for things to be anything other than what they are right here just as it is so if that's you and you've noticed that maybe the mind has become diverted in some way shape or form so can you take that one breath that one mindful pause relax open again to awareness attention and invite it right back onto that breath perhaps noting what you may have been distracted with if that's helpful maybe a labeling and in that field of awareness noting that the breath is also here because it is experiences thoughts worries fantasies all unfolding at any given moment but here you are intentionally with your attention resting on your own natural breath just this breath in just this breath out moment by moment breath by breath sc Endless stories,
Scenarios that play out,
Anticipating or worrying about events or running through that whole to-do list.
Maybe arguing with yourself or maybe even someone else about something or other,
It could be anything.
But in that moment that you discover that maybe your mind is not with or on the breath,
Without a judgement or condemning yourself in any way but simply,
Open-heartedly,
Affectionately,
With kindness,
Noting what's on your mind.
If it's not the breath that's centre stage or holding the attention,
Then what is?
Noting or feeling,
Observing,
Sensing what is.
Then allowing breath to be also part of it because it's also here.
It might be helpful then to re-establish the attention,
That full attention right back,
Maybe on the belly,
The ribs,
The chest,
The nostrils or the whole body breathing.
Right in this moment right here,
Right now.
All letting go of the last breath that's been a full embracing of what's here.
Almost like a faith of what's to come,
The next breath,
The future.
Utterly,
Wholeheartedly present,
This moment,
This breath.
And the few remaining minutes that we've got together,
If maybe you've noticed like your attention or the posture has in some way collapsed or waned a little,
Maybe re-establishing yourself in your seat and your embracing of the breath and your drinking in of the experience,
This moment,
Just as it is,
Just as you are.
This breath,
The drinking in,
The flowing of the air in this body,
This unfolding of what's here,
Some folding of life,
Fully embraced,
Fully held,
Fully here,
Moment by moment by moment and breath by breath by breath.
