Hello and welcome to this peaceful breathing meditation.
Gently close your eyes and begin to take your awareness inwards.
Is there any tightness or tension in your body?
Are you mentally in a stressful or anxious state?
Maybe you feel great.
I'd like you all to give yourself a score out of ten for how peaceful you feel right now.
So ten would be Buddha level.
And zero would be if you're ready to throw your device out of the window.
So make a little mental note of your score of zero to ten of how peaceful you feel right now.
Now begin to slow down the breath.
So in for two,
Three,
Four.
And out for two,
Three,
Four.
In again,
Two,
Three,
Four.
And out,
Two,
Three,
Four.
As we do this breathing exercise,
I'd like you to keep this slow breathing pace throughout.
Try to keep your back nice and straight.
As you inhale,
Let the belly rise all the way up.
And as you exhale,
Allow it to come all the way back in.
Now tilt your head forward.
And then roll it over to the right.
Breathe in as you slowly roll it effortlessly over to the left shoulder.
And now gently exhale as you roll forwards the head back over to the right.
Do this a couple more times.
Breathing from right to left and exhaling from left to right.
This time,
I'd like you to tilt your head backwards and then over to the left shoulder.
Inhale as you roll it over to the right.
And exhale as you roll it backwards across to the left shoulder.
Again,
Do this a couple more times.
Breathe in as you roll forward.
Breathe in as you roll forward.
We'll now do an exercise to balance our cardiovascular system.
Start by covering the left nostril with the peace fingers of your left hand.
Begin to breathe slowly in and out through the right nostril.
Again,
A nice slow steady pace as we did at the start.
Aim to breathe in and out through the belly rather than the chest.
It's a much healthier way for our bodies to breathe.
If your mind begins to wander at any point,
Just bring your awareness back to the sensation of the breath coming in and out of your nose.
Release the left hand now and rest both hands either on your knees or on your lap.
Keep your palms facing upwards.
Don't control the breathing for a minute.
Just sit with this for a while in silence.
Notice if you feel any more relaxed.
If you're feeling a high temperature mood or if your beginners arerisa,
Well up into Switch over now to place your right hand over your right nostril and begin to breathe slowly in and out of your left nostril.
In 2 3 4 and out 2 3 4.
Try to keep a strong posture throughout your practice.
Keep that nice slow steady pace as you breathe.
In 2 3 4 and out 2 3 4.
In 2 3 4 and out 2 3 4.
Again just relax your breathing now.
Don't try and control it.
Just sit with this calm and stillness for a while and allow your hands to rest.
In 2 3 4 and out 2 3 4.
Now we'll use both nostrils for a couple of minutes.
See if you can slow down your breathing just a little bit more and not to the point where it's uncomfortable.
Really slow down the breath.
In 2 3 4 5 and out 2 3 4 5.
Enjoy the tranquility found in this exercise.
Keep the awareness on the breath.
Breathe slowly in and exhale in slowly back out.
In 2 3 4 5 and out 2 3 4.
Just let go of control for a few seconds.
Stop controlling the breath.
Just sit with that for a while.
Last exercise now.
As you breathe in,
Slowly rise your hands in the air,
Wide as you can go.
When they finally meet above your head,
Place them in a prayer position and slowly exhale as you bring your hands down to your heart.
Keep repeating that same flowing motion.
Again,
Inhaling with your arms out wide,
Up in the air until they meet in a prayer position and then exhaling as your hands flow down to your heart centre.
Imagine you are collecting a calming energy you've created around you throughout this practice as you inhale and as you exhale imagine you're storing that peaceful energy in your heart for the rest of the day or evening.
Fantastic.
Now you can relax your hands and your breathing again.
What I'd like you to do is just again give yourself a peace rating out of 10.
Notice if your body or your mind feels more at ease and compare your score to what you gave yourself at the start.
I'd imagine most of you will be feeling more peaceful now and it shows you just how powerful slowing down the breath can be.
Thank you.
