Okay welcome to your meditation practice for today.
Take a moment to find some comfort and stability where you are whether that's on your chair,
On the floor or on your bed.
Today's practice is going to be tuning into the breath.
So we want to find a space where we feel like our breath is most at ease,
Where your spine can be lengthened and your body feels relatively relaxed but still alert.
If you'd like to gently close your eyes,
Drawing your awareness from the outside world and whatever you've been doing before your meditation practice today and drawing your awareness from that within,
Inside and into your practice.
Slowly start to drop your attention towards your breathing,
Not changing it or passing judgment on the quality of it,
Just allowing the breath to flow freely.
This is where you feel your breath the most.
Is it higher in your body,
In your chest and across your collarbones?
Do you feel the side ribs move as you inhale and exhale or do you feel more in your belly?
Oftentimes when we're seated a lot of people,
They draw their belly inwards or they contract the space of their solar plexus so around the diaphragm,
Around the lowest ribs.
So if you can consciously relax that area,
Do so.
And for our practice today we're going to follow the journey of the breath through the body.
Starting with the tip of your nose,
Just feeling the breath flow in and out,
Focusing all your attention only on the tip of your nose.
As the breath flows into the body,
You might feel a cooler sensation there at the tip of your nose.
And as you exhale you might feel the temperature of the air that leaves your body just a little bit warmer than what came in.
See if you can keep your focused awareness just on the inflow and outflow of breath through the tip of your nose.
Following the journey of breath a little bit deeper into the body now,
Watch as you inhale.
You can feel it or maybe you can imagine it,
The breath passing by the back of the throat.
And the air comes into the tip of your nose and you feel it or imagine it past the back of your throat.
And as you exhale do the opposite.
Journey inward further still and see if you can feel the rise and fall of your collar bones around the top of your chest as you inhale and exhale.
So as your lungs inflate you feel the chest of the collar bones rise very slightly and as you exhale you feel them journey downwards a little bit.
Again inhaling feeling the collar bones rise and as you exhale feeling the collar bones relax down towards the floor.
Keep journeying inward now see if you can feel the breath in your ribcage.
If it's helpful you can also put your hands on the sides of your ribcage around the lowest ribs just to feel that inflation and relaxation as you inhale and exhale.
So you feel the breath enter the body and then watch as the sides of your ribcage expand and contract as you exhale.
Now draw your awareness towards the rise and fall of your belly as you breathe.
Then you'll feel your belly expand as you inhale and relax as you exhale.
Journeying back towards your spine.
Journeying downward a little bit further to your sitting bones those kind of bony ridges in your hips where you feel the most contact between your body and your seat.
This one's a little bit more subtle take a big inhale and as you exhale you might feel your hips feel a little bit heavier at those points.
Your belly relaxes and your hips kind of give into the ground just one percent more.
Now let's draw the awareness to all those things together fully watching the journey of each breath as it flows through the body.
So inhaling feeling that cooler sensation at the tip of your nose the breath passing by the back of the throat raising your collarbones and inflating the side ribs then your belly and your hips feeling a little bit heavier as you exhale and feel your belly draw in.
Your rib cage contract,
Your chest fall and the air leave the body with a slightly warmer sensation from the tip of your nose.
Flowing in again feeling that cooler sensation at the tip of your nose as you inhale your collarbones rise side ribs expand belly expands as you exhale feel your hips heavy your belly relax your rib cage relax your collarbones and chest fall and the air will start to leave the body with a little bit of a warmer sensation.
Following your breath in this way for the next minute or two see if you can really get to know every part of the journey the breath makes through the body each inhale and each exhale as always if your mind starts to wander just come back with your inhale and watch the next breath take its full journey through the body.
I'll mind the time and I'll come back to you when your mindfulness practice is over.
Congratulations.
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