Hello everyone.
Welcome to your sacred space and to this moment of meditation.
I want to thank you for practicing with me today.
But most importantly,
I want you to thank yourself for taking the time to be with yourself and to breathe with yourself today.
It's a gift to yourself and also to the world.
Today we will do a guided meditation on the joy of breathing and the joy of meditation as nourishment for our soul.
This is a practice that I learned from Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh.
And it's a beautiful practice that you can do anywhere,
Anytime.
But today I will guide you through.
So first,
Find yourself in a comfortable seat,
Whether that's sitting on the floor on a cushion or on a chair with both feet firmly planted to the floor.
And if it's more comfortable for you,
You could also lie down.
Choose whichever position makes you feel most comfortable.
And if you feel during the meditation,
There's a sore in your body or there's a pain,
Feel free to move.
The point of this meditation is not to sit rigidly and perfectly the whole time,
But rather to be connected to your body by the way of your breath.
And that means also to move intuitively in what feels right for you.
Now,
As we sink into our seats,
I will play the sound of the bell three times.
And the invitation here is for you to gently close your eyes,
To turn down the sensory impressions,
And to come into this moment.
Breathing in,
I know that I am breathing in.
Breathing out,
I know that I am breathing out.
In-breath.
You may like to recite those words to yourself as you're focusing on your in-breath and your out-breath.
Breathing in,
I know that I am breathing in.
Breathing out,
I know that I am breathing out.
Now,
As you've become more aware of your breath,
With the inhalation and the exhalation,
See if you can breathe a bit deeper with the inhale and breathe a bit slower with the exhale.
So you lengthen your breath on the inhale and you deepen your breath on the exhale.
You can feel your breath moving all the way into your belly,
Filling up your belly,
And exhaling slowly out of your nose or your mouth.
You may like to put your hand on your belly if it feels comfortable to feel the breath.
Breathing in,
I deepen my breath.
And breathing out,
I lengthen my breath.
Inhale,
Deepen.
Exhale,
Lengthen.
And it can be helpful to visualize the breath moving through your body on the inhalation,
Starting from the deep roots of your belly,
Moving up through your chest and your throat and into your nose and your mouth.
And on the exhalation,
Slowly,
Gently flowing back down through the body.
Breathing in,
I feel calm.
Breathing out,
I feel ease.
Breathing in,
I feel calm.
Breathing out,
I feel ease.
Allowing yourself to continue following the flow of the breath,
Deepening and calming and lengthening and easing.
And now,
Breathing in,
I smile.
And breathing out,
I release.
Maybe you feel you can form a smile on your lips on the inhalation.
And on the exhalation,
I release everything I've been holding.
You may draw your shoulders back.
Allow them to release.
And also in your jaw or in your fingers or in your eyebrows.
And see if you can flow the breath of your exhale towards anywhere that feels tense.
Maybe they're holding tension or stress.
And on the inhale,
We smile,
Creating space and joy.
And on the exhale,
We release,
Letting it all go.
Inhale,
I smile.
Exhale,
I release.
Meditation is a practice of nourishing our joy and creating our joy.
Through being present in this moment and breathing,
We can nourish that feeling of joy and lightness and happiness.
And here,
Dwelling in the present moment,
I know it is a wonderful moment.
Present moment,
Wonderful moment.
And now I invite you to bring one hand to your belly and one hand to your heart and feel the calm,
The joy,
The steadiness that you've just created in your parasympathetic nervous system.
Just by breathing,
By nourishing our joy and creating our joy,
We can feel a sense of happiness,
A sense of calm and ease.
And you notice that this is a practice that you can do in any moment.
And it can be a part of your day to bring yourself back to enjoy the power of meditation.
And now,
As I did in the beginning,
I will invite three sounds of the bell.
You can either keep your eyes closed or you can slightly open them and slowly feel that you start to awaken the body.
But just breathe with the sound of the bell and enjoy.
Thank you for breathing with me today and enjoy the rest of your day.
Namaste.
