Mindfulness of breath and body.
Begin by paying attention to your posture,
Making sure you have everything you need.
And in gravity do its work.
The sense of your weight supported by the cushion,
The chair,
The floor,
The foundations of the building,
The ground and the earth.
And just by paying attention to your surroundings,
Temperature of the air against the skin,
Sounds around you,
Touch of the cloth of your clothes against the body.
As you surrender your weight to the base of the chair,
The cushion and the floor,
Bring your awareness down to the belly.
Noticing the gentle rise and fall of the belly with the in-breath and the out-breath.
If your attention wanders,
Coming back to those sensations in the belly once more.
And from the belly bring your awareness up to the chest area.
Noticing how the chest expands and contracts with the in-breath and the out-breath.
Bring your awareness to the chest as you breathe in and letting go and softening as you breathe out.
And if your attention wanders off,
Don't worry,
Just coming back to the chest again.
And connecting with the rise and fall of the chest with the in-breath and the out-breath.
And taking awareness up to the tip of the nose,
Edge of the nostrils,
Tip of the upper lip of the mouth.
Feeling the sensation of the air as it first enters the body when you breathe in,
Last leaves the body when you breathe out.
And now locating the focus of the breath in the body,
That point where you first almost intensely experience the sensation of breathing.
That could be in the belly,
Could be in the chest,
Could be in the little finger,
The big toe.
Take your attention to that focal point.
Imagine you can breathe in and out of that part of the body.
And noticing the thoughts,
Feelings and sensations that arise with that awareness.
And when your attention wanders,
Just coming back to that focal point once more.
Now using the breath as a guide for our attention,
Taking our awareness now down to the soles of the feet,
The toes,
The heels and the ankles.
Imagine you can breathe in and out of that part of the body and just notice the sensations there.
Letting go of any idea or concept of the feet.
Just becoming aware of your unmediated experience,
The simple physical sensations in that part of the body.
Whether that experience is pleasant,
Unpleasant or something in between.
Remember from the feet,
The heels,
The toes and the ankles,
Taking awareness along the shins and the calf muscles towards the knees and the backs of the knees.
And paying attention to the sensations there.
To the thighs,
The inner leg and hamstrings.
And to the groin,
The pelvis and the hips.
Breathing through that part of the body.
And to the buttocks and the base of the spine,
The coccyx bone.
Supporting the weight of your upper torso.
And following the base of the backbone up through the small of the back,
Right between the shoulder blades to the base of the neck and the base of the skull.
And the vertebrae of the spine stacking one on top of the other.
And notice how that feels.
And taking awareness across the shoulders,
Towards the tops of the arms.
Letting the weight of the shoulders and the arms fall towards the floor.
And from the tops of the arms,
Down through the upper arms to the elbows.
And from the elbows,
Along the forearms to the toes.
And from the wrists into the palm of your hands,
Towards the tips and pads of your fingers.
As you take your awareness to the tips and pads of your fingers,
Notice how sensitive they are.
And then taking awareness to the face,
Allowing the face to be soft.
Perhaps allowing the lips and the mouth to be open very slightly.
Feel the flow of air over the tips of the lips into the roof of the mouth and the back of the throat.
Noticing the temperature and texture of the breath as it flows in and out of the body,
Around the mouth and the nose,
Into the roof of the mouth and the back of the throat.
Perhaps noticing the length of the in-breath and the out-breath and how that changes very slightly.
And how the intensity of the experience varies over time.
Softening around the mouth and the nose and the eyes.
Connecting once more with the sensation of the air entering and leaving the body around the tip of the nose,
Edges of the nostrils,
Tip of the upper lip and the mouth.
Taking your awareness now to the top of the head,
The scalp,
The back of the head and the back of the ears.
Expanding your awareness to the whole body again.
Breathing through the whole body.
Noticing any points of tension or release.
Where the body feels heavy,
Where the body feels light.
Noticing any areas of pleasant sensation.
Noticing any areas of unpleasant sensation.
And coming back to the flow of the breath in the body,
From the mouth and the nose,
The breath flowing all the way down to the toes of the feet.
Whole body coming alive to the breath.
Slowly expanding your awareness back into the room with the sounds,
Your sense of smell,
Temperature of the air,
Touching your clothes against the body,
Your weight supported by the chair or the cushions.
As the third chime of the bell dies away,
In your own time,
Open your eyes and sitting at ease.
