Hello and welcome.
My name is Campbell and I'm happy to have you here joining me for this breath awareness meditation.
I invite you to find a comfortable seat.
It's just gently lengthening the spine,
Softening the face and the front of the body.
I want to ask you a very simple question.
How do you know that you're breathing?
So the obvious is that you're alive.
But let's think of the more subtle.
Quiet down the noise in the mind,
The obvious physical sensations and just tune into your breath.
How do you know that you're breathing?
Perhaps it's the gentle stream of air coming in through the nostrils.
Maybe you feel that air moving down from the back of the throat.
Maybe it's the gentle rise and fall of the chest or the belly.
Wherever you feel the breath the most clearly,
It's just settle our attention there.
We perhaps begin to steer our attention inwards.
If you first notice the physical boundaries of the body,
Let's start with the most obvious.
The weight of your body with the sit bones.
Feeling of clothing on your skin.
Temperature.
Whether it be warm or cool.
Let's continue to move into the more subtle.
Is there any physical tension in the body?
Can you feel the beat of your heart?
Let's come back to just noticing the breath as it comes in and flows out.
Let's just slow the breath down.
It's 10%.
Feel that gentle stream of air beginning to soften as it comes in and out of the nose.
Perhaps notice the air a little bit cooler on the inhale.
A touch of warmth on the exhale.
Could you follow the breath from the nostrils and through the airways down the throat into the top of the lungs as you exhale,
Perhaps following the breath back out.
The next breath in,
Allow the attention to follow the breath a little deeper into the lungs.
The breath out,
We follow all the way back out.
As if we're just tracking the breath.
Let's journey in through the nostrils,
Down the throat into the lungs,
Into the airways.
And as we begin to breathe out,
Follow the breath up through the airways,
The throat,
The nose,
Back out of the body.
Can we settle the attention on the breath?
Let's also ensure the body is not becoming tense.
Soften the forehead.
Just gently unlock the jaw.
Relax the shoulders.
Allow the body to melt just a little.
Attention steered back to the breath.
As it flows in,
Gently flows back out.
Now if you can still hear your breath,
I want you to try and make it a little bit more quiet.
So no sound from the entry and exit of the air.
Now if you can feel your breath,
Perhaps could we make it a little bit softer.
Very gently,
Almost not even disturbing,
Little hairs in the nostrils,
The breath becoming so soft,
Quiet,
Almost still.
If someone was watching you,
Perhaps they think you're holding the breath.
But you can feel this very subtle whisper of air entering the body and flowing back out.
If you begin to notice some tension building in the shoulders of the jaw,
Let's just try and notice and soften.
What we begin to feel is this slight buildup of carbon dioxide that sometimes feels a little bit uncomfortable.
Our job here is to notice and stay soft.
Maintain this soft whisper breath.
Just a few more moments.
Allow your body to feel this desire or want for a deeper breath.
Now breath by breath,
Let's just begin to invite a little deeper.
The next breath the next breath expands a little more in the belly.
The next breath starting to climb up into the chest.
So each breath slowly increasing its volume,
Sensation,
Intensity.
But look through that lens of curiosity.
Try and pick out every little detail as the breath flows in,
Taking up space in the body and flows out taking tension from the body.
Let your natural rhythm of breath find its way back.
Perhaps notice the ease of the breath.
Maybe it feels like there's a bit more space in the body for the breath to move.
Let's bring attention back to the physical body itself.
Maybe we notice a little bit less tension,
A bit more awareness.
Perhaps slowly now beginning to consciously move the body maybe linking open the eyes just readjusting to the light,
The sound,
The space.
Try to retain that sense of awareness of your breath as you move on through your day.
Coming back and checking in,
Staying with your breath.
Thank you for breathing with me.
