Today's practice will be about conscious breathing.
And this is a wonderful preliminary step towards pranayama or pranayama practices.
So in today's practice,
We'll be moving from awareness of our physical body to our natural breath.
And then we'll move into a conscious breathing practice.
So on the inhale,
We'll say mentally or out loud,
I am inhaling.
And on the exhale,
I am exhaling.
What's beautiful about using these two phrases is that because they have the same number of syllables,
It balances the length of the inhale to the exhale,
Helping to balance your energy.
With that said,
If those two phrases don't resonate for you,
You can certainly use any other phrases such as just simply inhaling,
Exhaling.
And as the breath begins to still in the practice,
You might also want to change the phrasing to simply inhaling,
Exhaling.
So allow my words to bring you into the practice,
But allow your inner wisdom to guide you.
So come to find a comfortable posture for today's practice.
And I invite you to close your eyes if that's comfortable,
But if not,
You can find a soft gaze on a point of focus.
Starting at the top of your head,
Bring a gentle,
Compassionate awareness to all of the surfaces that are supporting your body in this moment.
Just gently bringing your awareness to the contact point between your body and the support,
Maybe noticing how it feels,
Maybe noticing the softness,
The firmness,
The temperature,
The texture.
Allow your awareness to move down the back body,
Making your way down to,
And begin to move your awareness within.
The gentle,
Compassionate awareness,
Notice your natural breath as it is in this moment.
Without a right or wrong way to breathe,
Simply bring a gentle,
Compassionate awareness to your natural breath.
Maybe you notice the length of the inhale versus the exhale.
Maybe you notice the quality of the breath.
Maybe it feels smooth.
Maybe it feels choppy at points.
Maybe you notice where in your body you feel your breath the most,
Maybe noticing any subtle movement in the abdomen,
Maybe the chest,
The side body,
The back body,
Maybe noticing the flow of air in and out of the nostrils.
Allow this awareness to whatever quality is speaking to you in this moment to anchor you into your breath,
Into your body,
And into the present moment.
As you watch your breath,
You may notice that it changes,
And allow for any natural changes to occur as you observe it.
But try not to manipulate or change it based on how you want it to be.
Just simply allow it to be as it is.
We're going to move now into the conscious breathing practice.
So on your next inhale,
Mentally or out loud,
Say,
I am inhaling.
And on the exhale,
I am exhaling.
On your inhale,
I am inhaling.
And on the exhale,
I am exhaling.
I am inhaling,
I am exhaling.
If the mind wanders,
Notice that,
And return to your breath and reciting the statements,
I am inhaling,
I am exhaling.
You can continue using these statements with the breath.
If you feel like you're ready to move into your meditation,
You can let the statements go.
Find a soft inner gaze into the mind's eye,
Sitting in your meditation here.
At any time,
You can return to the statements to anchor you back into the present moment.
Keep your awareness within,
And gently bring your awareness to your breath.
Once again,
As your breath is naturally in this moment,
You may notice that the breath feels different than when you started the practice.
You might also notice that it feels exactly the same.
And there's no right answer,
You're just simply observing,
Cultivating the awareness within.
And gently begin to deepen your breath.
Bring the chin in towards the chest,
Bringing your mind's eye towards your heart center.
And if the eyes are closed,
Very softly allow the eyes to flutter open as you begin to integrate your inner and your outer worlds as one.
And take as much time as you need to begin to feel grounded in your body and grounded in the space around you.
And I thank you so much for practicing with me today.
May your conscious breathing connect you to the wisdom that is your consciousness and the consciousness of all.
