Welcome to today's mindfulness breathing exercise.
Finding yourself a comfortable position in which to sit or lie down.
Making any final adjustments to get as comfortable as possible as necessary.
As you come to rest,
Taking a moment to acknowledge yourself for showing up for today's practice.
Closing down your eyes,
Softening your gaze.
See if you can listen to the sounds that are furthest away.
See if you can listen to the sounds that are happening in the present moment,
In your environment.
Right here,
Right now.
They're furthest away.
As you continue to listen,
See if you can contract your listening,
Contract your awareness,
The sounds in your space that are occurring in the present moment.
Sound of my voice,
The gentle sound of the music,
And any sounds occurring in the present moment,
In the space that you're in.
And from here now,
See if you can contract your awareness further.
Focus your awareness further.
And go from listening to the sounds to listening to the sensation of breathing in your body.
See if you can observe the rising and the falling of your body as it breathes in and breathes out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Put your hands in your lap alongside you on the ground with your fingers and palms facing up to the sky.
As you continue to breathe in and breathe out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Now take a slow breath in and as you do,
Slide your thumb up your pointing finger.
And slowly as you breathe out,
Slide your thumb down your pointing finger.
Take another slow breath in and slide your thumb up your middle finger.
Breathing out,
Slide your thumb back down your middle finger.
Breathing in again,
Slide your thumb up your ring finger.
Breathing out,
Sliding it back down your ring finger.
Nice and slow breath in,
Slide your thumb up your pinky finger.
Nice and slow breath out,
Slide your thumb down your pinky finger.
Breathing in again,
Slide your thumb up your ring finger.
Slowly breathe out and sliding your thumb back down your ring finger.
Take another slow breath in,
Slide your thumb up your middle finger.
Breathing out and sliding your thumb back down.
Taking a slow breath in,
Sliding your thumb up your pointer finger.
Slowly breathing out,
Sliding your thumb back down your pointer finger.
Taking another slow breath in,
Sliding your thumb up your middle finger.
Breathing out and sliding your thumb back down your middle finger.
Breathing in again,
Sliding your thumb up your ring finger.
Slowly breathing out and sliding it back down your ring finger.
Breathing in again,
Sliding your thumb up your ring finger.
Slowly breathing out,
Sliding your thumb back down.
Take a slow breath in,
And as you do,
Slide your thumb up your pointer finger.
Slowly breathing out,
Sliding your thumb down your pointer finger.
Taking another slow breath in,
Sliding your thumb up your middle finger.
Breathing out and sliding your thumb back down your middle finger.
Breathing in again and sliding your thumb up your ring finger.
Slowly breathing out and sliding it back down.
Nice slow breath in and slide your thumb up your pinky finger.
Now a nice slow breath out and slide your thumb down your pinky finger.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Noticing that tracing your fingers actively gives your mind something to focus on.
Perhaps gives you less space for intruding thoughts to interrupt your meditative flow,
Encouraging you to stay present for longer.
As you gently bring some movement back into your fingers,
Back into your hands,
Inviting a light stretch into the body,
Taking a moment here to acknowledge yourself for showing up for today's practice.
And as you return,
Opening your eyes,
Return to your day,
Energized and revitalized.
