Find yourself a comfortable position,
You can sit or lie,
It's always your own choice.
Let's begin by taking in a long breath and having an even longer breath out.
Long breath in,
Longer breath out.
Notice your body settle to where you sit,
Where you lie,
You make that longer out breath.
Notice all the points of contact between you and the surface that you are on.
More and more connected with every out breath.
Allow your breath to fall into its natural rhythm.
Notice as you meditate,
Your breath will slow,
That is normal.
If your eyes are still open,
You might like to close them.
And bring awareness now to the movement of your breath.
Just follow it as it enters the body,
All the way through to where it leaves.
Notice the lovely pause,
Silence between the out breath and when you need to breathe in again.
Notice how your body moves with the breath,
Gently rising as you breathe in,
Settling and softening as you breathe out.
As you tune into that breath,
Silently begin to count them.
In breath one,
Out breath two.
In breath three,
Out breath four.
All the way up to ten.
Just breathing,
Relaxing and counting.
All the way to ten.
Starting again at one.
Just breathing and counting.
If thoughts and feelings arise,
There is no need to try and stop them or engage with them.
Just let them pass,
Bringing your awareness back to the breath,
Back to your count.
You're not controlling the breath,
Just watching and counting.
Anytime you get distracted and lose the count,
Just start again at one.
In breath one,
Out breath two.
All the way to ten.
Starting again at one.
Don't think about why you got distracted,
Why you lost the count.
Just keep returning back.
Back to the breath.
Back to the count.
As you hold this awareness,
You may find your mind becoming quieter or focused.
And you may find your breath becoming slower.
Perhaps lighter and gentler.
Just keep returning to the count.
Staying with your breath.
As your breathing becomes lighter,
You may find yourself becoming more relaxed.
You're still with the breath.
Sometimes there are very few thoughts.
Other times,
Rivers of thoughts.
Return to your anchor.
Your breath.
And the count.
Notice how your body is feeling.
You feel lighter,
Softer,
Heavier.
Just notice the sensations.
When you know what relaxed feels like,
You know what you're aiming for.
If thoughts arise,
Gently take awareness back to the breath.
The count.
Just breathing.
Watching.
And counting.
As we near the end of this meditation,
Begin to bring awareness back to where you're positioned.
Back to your contact with the surface you're on.
Just wiggle your toes.
Wiggle your fingers.
Just take your time to adjust to getting back into your day.
