Preparing for meditation using the breath making yourself comfortable in the seat really checking in with how you're seated at the moment noticing the feet on the floor awareness of sitting on the chair bringing a sense of strength and stability to the spine simply allowing the spine to come into alignment holding us upright being aware of the openness across the shoulders and the chest area allowing the arms and hands simply to be at rest and noticing that considering the neck,
The extension of the spine and again there may be a sense of lengthening that comes when we place our attention there bringing awareness to the head locating the top of the head,
The crown the point at which we are at our tallest bringing soft awareness to the forehead,
The area around the eyes,
The cheeks,
The chin and the mouth so we're sitting here noticing the sounds that might be present at the moment there may be opinions or judgments about the sounds simply letting go of those labels and allowing the sounds to be there just as a soundscape bringing gentle awareness to the mind bringing gentle curiosity as to how you're feeling right now whether our thoughts about the day or even about doing this practice simply acknowledging that and best as you can coming back to simply being here so as we're sitting we're being with the body and the mind gently checking out how the body is feeling doing a gentle sweep from the top of the head down through the neck across the shoulders the chest area,
The abdominal region,
The pelvis down the arms into the hands from the hips down both legs to the ankles and feet noticing any areas that may be feeling tight or congested or heavy simply acknowledging where this is felt and bring gentleness and kindness to this area having taken these few moments to arrive and settle gently bringing the awareness now to breathing not needing to manipulate or change the breath in any way simply bringing curiosity to how the breath is being experienced at the moment perhaps there's awareness at the nostrils there may even be subtle awareness at the throat area perhaps it's more evident with the rise and fall of the chest that wave-like motion that we can become familiar with or maybe it's located in the abdominal region,
The belly expansion and contraction that can be observed there there's no right or wrong with this simply bringing awareness and curiosity to how the breath is experienced and of course there'll be thoughts,
There'll be wonderings or am i doing this right or how long is this going to go for simply noticing when there is that mental activity smile and acknowledge that there's been a drifting and coming back coming back to the felt sensations of the breath taking an interest in each breath following the inhalation as it begins noticing the slight pause before the exhalation begins and following that silence there may well be distractions whether that's external in the environment that you're sitting in or internal distractions,
Thoughts,
Ideas noticing these,
Acknowledging them,
That present part of our life and simply refocusing back on the breath wherever you find it perhaps even bringing a gentle smile when you've noticed that there has been this drifting it's no big deal it's just what happens but we have the capacity to notice this and refocus back on the breath it can be helpful to check in with the body every so often briefly checking the posture and alignment of the body has there been a slumping or collapsing of the back or is there a straining or tightness around there that can be softened a little and then with this making any subtle adjustments that might be needed to make this more easeful experiencing the breath throughout the body not needing to analyze it this is a place we can rest in directional What do you expect?
What are you experiencing now?
Thoughts?
Bodily sensation?
Or breath?
Knowing where you are and if need be,
Returning again to the anchor and reference point of the breath.
Sinking into the experience of breathing.
Breathing into the breath as an old friend.
A constant companion.
Breathing into the experience of breathing.
Each complementing the other beautifully.
Feet on the floor connected to the earth.
The awareness of sitting on the chair.
Sensation of clothing and contact of skin.
Moving briefly through the body from the top of the head,
The neck,
Chest,
Abdominal region,
Pelvis,
Arms and hands,
Hips,
Legs,
Ankles and feet.
And it can provide that moment to refocus and to take a fresh start.
At the sound of the bell,
Gently reactivate the body by moving the fingers and toes,
Having a stretch if need be and moving into the next part of the bell.
