Hello everyone,
This is Dorothy Ortuzini.
Welcome to this meditation.
This is the first one that I typically teach to clients and others in my workshops who really haven't had the experience of meditation before.
And if you're an experienced meditator,
Then this is also a really lovely way to come back to some of the basics to remind you of what it feels like in your body when you are experiencing your breath.
I'm going to show you two simple yet really brilliant strategies that when you use them to change your way of breathing,
It opens you to a whole new experience of what meditation is all about.
So let's begin.
I'm going to ask you to find a comfortable posture.
I really recommend for this one to sit if you can and to find stillness so you can just be motionless for the next few moments.
With your eyes closed,
Bringing awareness to your breath.
And for the first part of this meditation,
Simply to experience your breath as it is occurring naturally in your body.
Bringing awareness to the notion of breathing just as you are,
Allowing the inhalations and the exhalations.
What I often suggest for people is to put one hand on their chest and place the other hand on their lower stomach so that they can feel the movement as they breathe.
As you breathe in with your attention on your chest and the hand on your chest,
Notice the movement here both as you inhale and exhale.
What you hope to experience is an expansion in your chest as you breathe in,
Your lungs filling with air and as you exhale to feel the chest moving back in toward the body.
You may also feel an expansiveness in your upper back as well.
Just feel.
And as we bring our awareness to our lower stomach,
Feeling the hand that is there which feels the movement.
Be aware here of what you feel as you inhale and as you exhale.
And as you exhale.
What you should hopefully feel is the belly expanding outward as you breathe in and moving back in toward the body as you exhale.
You can stay here a little longer and just feel the energy of your breath and the movement in your body.
This would be what I call breathing correctly.
So when you're in a natural state,
When you're not anxious or upset,
Your breathing is going to be much like this and the movement you'll feel is going to be like this.
Now let's move into the actual meditation.
We're going to change just two things from what you've been doing.
Bring your awareness back to your breath and the region of your chest.
The first thing we're going to change here,
Which might seem very natural,
And if it feels a little out of the ordinary,
Trust me,
It's going to feel more comfortable as you use this and as you practice it.
And it's got purpose.
So as before,
Breathing in through your nose,
But this time to exhale out through your mouth,
Relaxing your jaw,
Allowing your lips to part slightly and feeling and perhaps even hearing the breath,
Leave your body out through your mouth.
You can hold your hand on your chest if you like or let it rest on a different part of your body.
The idea is to continue feeling the movement in your chest as you breathe deeply.
The idea of breathing out through your mouth is to allow you to release all of your breath.
And since many of us don't breathe deeply most of the time,
And in fact when we're feeling a difficult emotion,
Our breathing becomes shallow and rapid and it's very much based in our chest,
Exhaling completely out through your mouth is a way to release the whole breath naturally,
Comfortably,
And because you've now released your whole breath,
The inhalation happens so naturally and it allows for a deep inhalation,
Which is what we want.
Breathe in and breathe out.
And the second thing we're going to change,
With your awareness on your belly and your lower stomach,
Keeping the inhalations and exhalations as they are,
I'd like you now to imagine you've got a balloon in your belly and give this balloon a color.
Give it a vibrant color,
Maybe your favorite color.
And with a hand on your stomach maybe you feel the movement here as you imagine the balloon expanding with every inhalation and with every exhalation you can feel the stomach moving back in toward the body as the balloon becomes smaller.
So every inhalation you can visualize and feel the air filling the balloon,
The balloon expanding in your stomach and then as you exhale,
Feeling and seeing the air being let out of the balloon,
The balloon returning to its original size,
The stomach moving back in toward the body.
Allow yourself to breathe using the balloon imagery for a little while,
Focusing on the movement,
Feeling the movement in the belly.
And also because we've given color to our balloon,
You can play with this imagery and notice the color of the balloon changing as you inhale and the balloon expands,
The color is lighter in hue and with the exhalations as the balloon becomes smaller,
Its color returns to its darker shade.
Allow yourself simply to feel all that you feel.
The beauty of being aware of your breath in this way means that you can use this meditation technique at any time,
You don't need to have your eyes closed but it definitely makes the experience more profound and it's a simple yet powerful way to calm the body,
To bring alertness to our mind,
To feel awake and aware.
When you are ready,
You can gently begin to bring awareness from your belly and maybe the balloon or feeling the breath coming in through your nose,
Exhaling out through your mouth,
Any of these focal points provide you with the experience of meditation.
And you can slowly begin to make your way back to awareness of what's around you,
Feeling your whole body and your state of calm and relaxation and to know that you can use this simple meditation technique at any time.
Thank you all for joining me.
This is Dorothy Virtusni.
