In this meditation we'll use some simple somatic tools combined with a more traditional Buddhist meditation.
The somatic tools will involve the use of your hands,
So you can start by just bringing your hands up towards your face and having a good look at them,
Just noticing the backs and the fronts,
Maybe give your fingers a little bit of a wriggle,
Without sort of judgment in terms of what they look like or whether your hands are feeling good right now or anything at all,
Just noticing your hands,
Maybe saying a little hello,
And then easing into whatever position you'd like to be in today that's both alert enough to stay present but comfortable enough to not be in any or too much discomfort or pain.
So you could be seated or laying down or standing or even walking,
Whatever feels right for you.
So the first part of the practice is going to be to choose one of your hands and to bring the palm up in front of your mouth and breathing in through your nose,
If that's available and sort of pursing the lips a little like you were going to whistle and blowing gently onto your hand and just noticing that sensation,
Breathing in through the nose and blowing out through the mouth and you can change the distance of your hand to a place where the sensation feels comfortable,
Noticeable but perhaps not too strong or giving you any feelings of discomfort.
You can see if you can make the out-breath a little bit gentler and slower,
At what distance will your hand need to be before you stop feeling the breath there.
You can just play around with that for a moment.
And then we're going to introduce the first part of the Buddhist aspect to this meditation which is just continuing to play with your breath in this way if that feels useful,
A useful way to keep your sort of mind anchored into noticing the breath.
We're using the words in and out silently as you breathe in and out and you can start to just let your breath be quite natural and see if it's still possible to feel the breath,
Perhaps with the fingers just under the nostrils or if you're still breathing out through your mouth,
Perhaps the fingertips or the palms still need to be closer if your if your breath is just coming naturally.
You can keep with that longer out-breath if that feels like something that feels useful or interesting.
I'm just silently saying the words in and out as you do this.
And you can use your hands now perhaps to explore the breath in other ways,
In other places if you'd like to,
Perhaps on the belly,
On the upper chest,
You might even turn your arms slightly so that the backs of your hands can sit arms slightly so that the backs of your hands can sit on the side of your ribs.
If the,
If your back is against a chair or you're laying down,
You could even put the backs of your hands in between your body,
The back of your body and the chair or the floor.
And just see if your hands can feel anywhere in the torso that moves when you're breathing.
Still using those words in and out as you explore the breath in the torso with your hands.
If you'd like to,
You can continue with the hand at the mouth or the nostrils,
The fingers gently,
Not quite touching,
But just feeling the warmth and the cold of the breath there.
All this exploration on the torso,
In and out,
Just exploring that for a few moments.
And you,
You don't have to stay with one place,
You can move the hands around and explore.
Just noticing what's happening,
Not having to make anything happen or worry if you can't find a place where you can sense the movement.
Just having a little explore with curiosity,
With gentleness and kindness.
Whatever your experience is,
Absolutely okay.
And if there's a place that you particularly like or can get a real good sense of the movement of the breath,
Perhaps,
Perhaps resting there now.
As we move on to the next two words,
I'm just silently saying the words,
Calm and ease as you breathe in and out.
And I want you to feel the movement of the breath,
Perhaps,
Perhaps resting there now.
Calm and ease as you breathe in and out.
We're kind of saying these words to our breathing,
To our body,
To our mind,
To ourself.
We're not trying to force ourselves to feel these ways or be this way,
Offering the words as a kind of invitation that that might be possible.
Calm and ease.
So on the in-breath,
Silently saying calm to yourself.
And on the out-breath,
Silently saying ease to yourself.
Still moving the hands if you'd like to,
Or finding that still place.
Somewhere on the body or near where the breath comes in and out.
So just try that for a few moments.
And the last two words in this meditation are smile and release.
So we could even bring a really small smile to our mouth if you'd like to.
And just see what that feels like.
But the smile in the Buddhist tradition is,
Again,
An intention to be friendly and kind towards our whole experience.
So even perhaps the difficult bits,
The hard bits of the day,
Perhaps the difficult bits of physical discomfort or pain or worries or anxieties,
Anger or stress that we might experience or be experiencing right now.
Even those things where we're wanting to be friendly and kind towards in ourselves,
Not frustrated and trying to get rid of them,
But just a gentle smile.
Not falling into them either,
Just a kind of small,
Gentle,
Kindly smile towards ourself.
You can still keep the hands with that in-breath and the out-breath.
So it's a small smile on the in-breath and a release on the out-breath.
So the silent words are smile and release.
Again,
It's not about having to feel these things right now,
But just offering ourselves these words as an opportunity,
A possibility to be friendly towards ourself and just to let go and release a little bit of the tension or stress or anything else that you might be holding right now.
So still having the hands with the breath if that's useful on the body or at the nose or mouth,
Gently feeling the hot and cold and just silently saying to yourself,
Smile on the in-breath and release on the out-breath and just trying that for a few moments.
Just for the last final few moments of the meditation,
You can if you'd like to bring your hand back up to your mouth,
Breathing in through the nose,
Just a couple of times,
Just a couple of times,
Pursed lips,
Blowing onto the hand,
In and out.
Maybe one more time in,
Just feeling the sensation of your breath on your hand as you blow out.
I hope the rest of your day goes well for you.
Thank you for listening.
