This is a short meditation called Samatha Buddhism.
This is a practice of being mindful of the breath.
I invite you to find a comfortable seat,
Either on a meditation cushion,
The floor,
Or on a chair,
Making sure that your spine is elongated and upright,
And that you're comfortable.
Once you find your seat,
I invite you to take a deep inhale through the nose,
And a deep exhale out through the mouth.
And again,
Inhale in,
Exhale out.
Either closing your eyes if that feels comfortable to you,
Or keeping a soft gaze downward,
About three or four feet in front of you,
Just a loose gaze,
So we're not hyper-focusing on anything.
Bringing your attention to the body,
And feeling the weight of your body,
Noticing your body sinking into the earth,
Bringing your awareness to the points of connection,
Your sits bones on your chair or cushion,
Your feet on the floor,
If you're back on a chair,
If so,
Where do you feel the connection?
Taking a deep breath now,
And feeling the body relaxing,
And sinking into the ground beneath you,
The earth supporting you.
Gently lifting up through the spine,
Imagining there's a string pulling you upright to the top of your head,
Feeling the elongation of the spine and the space that's created as we're lifted.
All of this while we keep connected to the breath.
Our deep inhale and our deep exhale.
Relaxing the face,
Opening the jaw and let it be loose.
If you can notice any tension around the eyes,
If you can relax the space around your eyes,
And notice where you can soften.
Relaxing the tongue,
And allowing it to rest right behind the teeth at the roof of the mouth.
Relaxing the shoulders,
Allowing your shoulders to come back and down,
Allowing the front of the body,
The heart space to open,
And your back to relax.
Your hands can rest comfortably on your legs,
Above the knees,
Or you can bring them into your lap.
Placing your right hand on top of your left,
With your thumbs very lightly touching,
Whatever resonates with you to feel comfortable.
Bringing your full attention to relaxing the body,
Which in turn will relax the mind.
And with this practice,
If we notice the mind wandering,
Gently bring it back to the body and the breath.
If it helps,
You can say to yourself silently,
Thought.
Just to acknowledge that your mind drifted,
And kindly and gently coming back to your breath.
Being kind and compassionate to yourself anytime you find yourself drifting,
And gently coming back to the in and the out breath.
Noticing when you drift off,
And just coming back.
As we come to a close of this meditation,
I invite you to take a few deep breaths at your own pace.
Fully inhaling in through the top of the head,
Exhaling all the way out through your sits bones or through your feet.
Inhaling in,
Exhaling out.
One more time at your own pace.
And when you're ready,
I invite you to wiggle your fingers,
Your toes,
Stretch your body in any way that it's needing.
Gently open your eyes,
Or lift your gaze and come back into the room.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
