Hi,
Brian Lowell,
French here.
In this meditation we focus on breathing.
Focusing on the breath is a fundamental concept within mindfulness practice as it increases the focus to help the mind from wandering as much.
Our breath is our constant companion throughout life,
Renewing the body and refreshing the mind.
It is a healer and it can be an amazing source of calm.
By focusing on our breath it gives us the ability to feel this.
Let's begin by settling into a comfortable seated posture and relaxing the body.
It may help to have your hands folded on your lap.
You may close your eyes or lower your gaze to lessen distraction.
Now let's breathe deeply in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Good.
As we do this let's count the seconds of time that it takes for our inhalation and try to make the exhalation last just a little bit longer.
Breathing in count up from one until the inhalation is completed and breathing out count up from one until the exhalation is completed.
Let's do this a few times extending the exhalation out as far as we comfortably can while not forcing just breathing very deeply and extending the out breath.
Good.
With each breath sense the renewing oxygen that is entering the body.
Sense the oxygen refreshing the mind and sense the increasing level of calm.
This practice of extending the exhalation engages the parasympathetic nervous system to adjust the autonomic functions of the body to lower the heart rate and lower blood pressure all leading to a greater sense of calm.
The body is amazingly designed to find calmness and the deep breaths provide the path.
Each time we count the length of the breath and extend the exhalation we are renewing our body.
We are refreshing the mind and we are finding our calm.
Be well.
