Hello and welcome.
My name is Sade Simone and I'll be leading you through an awareness of breath meditation,
A simple and powerful practice.
Because when we learn to pay attention to our breathing,
We learn to pay attention to life in a completely new way.
So let's take a moment now to just accept the way you're feeling in this moment and allow yourself permission to feel whatever you're feeling and determining that it is okay.
So let's begin by tuning into your posture.
We can practice sitting on a chair,
Sitting on a meditation cushion on the floor,
Or lying down.
But if you are in a chair,
Just move forward just a little bit so you're nice and stable,
Making sure that your feet are flat on the ground and allow your hands to just rest where it feels most comfortable and inviting intentionality and grace in a way that balances awakefulness and relaxation.
And if you wish,
When you're ready,
You can gently rest your eyelids closed or you may find a spot ahead of you to softly gaze.
So let's invite some relaxation and ease into your mind and body by taking a few deep,
Long breaths,
Breathing in through the nose and breathing out through the mouth,
Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.
One more deep breath in through the nose and breathing out through the mouth.
So now I invite you to bring to mind one word that represents something that you'd like to welcome more of into your life today.
So this would be your intention for this practice.
So it could be balance,
Support,
Confidence,
Trust,
Forgiveness,
Clarity.
Whatever it is,
Allow the intention,
That word,
To arise in your mind,
Taking this time to connect our minds and hearts together.
And let's take a deep breath in through the nose.
Hold the breath for a moment and repeat your intention in your mind.
Repeat the intention in your mind and breathing out through the nose.
Once again,
Breathing in through the nose.
Repeat the intention in your mind and breathing out through the nose.
And last one,
Breathing in through the nose.
Hold the intention in your mind and repeat it again and breathing out through the nose.
And just allowing your natural breathing rhythm to occur.
Let's take this opportunity to do our best effort to shift our attention from the outside world,
Inside,
Towards our internal landscape.
And let's begin exploring our internal landscape,
Observing our thoughts and emotions as they move in and out of our awareness moment by moment and doing your best effort to not get involved in the content of them,
But simply observing them as thoughts and as emotions.
So let's begin by tuning into the condition of the mind,
Observing what thoughts are there to be noticed,
Perhaps a thought arising and passing away again.
See if you can perhaps even determine how many thoughts are present or the quality of the thoughts that are present.
As best you can,
Simply allowing the thoughts to be mental events and nothing more.
And doing your best effort to resist the temptations to get carried away in thought.
And now tuning into your feelings and your emotions.
What emotions are present to be experienced?
Perhaps you notice a sense of unease or even some stress.
And perhaps you notice that you've been hooked on a feeling and this is a good opportunity to just notice and see if you can loosen the grip just a little bit.
And now gathering all of your attention and directing right into the body where you can feel the sensations of the breath most vividly today.
Most people connect with the feeling of the breath at the bottom of their belly or the chest,
The movement of rising and settling.
Others prefer more subtle like the back of the throat.
Or maybe it's the upper lip where you can feel the air brushing by as it goes in through the nose.
Or perhaps at the tip of the nose.
Wherever it is,
See if you can gather all of your attention and rest there.
That will be your home base for this practice.
Allowing the breath to be your anchor into this present moment.
And remembering that the nature of the mind is to wonder.
So if at any moment you notice that your attention has been pulled away,
Away from the feeling of the breath,
Away from your home base,
Gently and kindly just invite it back,
Coming back and beginning again.
So begin with one breath in and one breath out.
And see if you can just follow one cycle of the breath.
Reconnecting with the breath.
Noticing when the mind has drifted into fantasy,
The past or the future.
Just kindly bring it back to an alert attention in the present moment.
And remembering that thoughts will think themselves.
So if at any moment you've become carried away into the thinking process,
Simply label them thoughts and come back into your home base.
Gathering your attention to each breath in and breath out.
And cup and cup.
Noticing if your attention has been pulled away and just begin again,
It's not a problem.
This is Nyx Father when he wereresyou on the future And doing your best effort to allow the thoughts to pass by far at a distance,
Like the birds flying in the sky and leaving no trace behind and just gently and kindly coming back,
Back into the home base,
Reconnecting with the feeling of the breath for another few moments.
And as we start to bring this practice to a close,
Take a moment to express gratitude for your efforts for practicing in this way.
This practice is an act of profound generosity because it not only benefits ourselves,
But it benefits everyone that we come in contact with.
And then noticing how your internal landscape has shifted.
And when you're ready in your own time,
You can gently open your eyes.
Thank you so much for your practice.
