This is a 12 minute meditation to help us continue our mindfulness practice and to continue to reap the benefits of the practice that we have already started.
The research shows that if we practice for 12 minutes every day,
It is the minimum that we need to do.
So we can always sit for longer.
But for today,
We're going to do our 12 minutes.
So let's sit comfortably,
Our feet in contact with the floor,
A nice upright posture.
We're going to have a big deep breath in,
Breathe in,
Stretch up to the sky,
Inhale.
And then with a big sigh,
Exhale and let it all go.
It's really important if you can to make that sound,
Signaling to your nervous system that you feel safe.
Breathing in,
Exhaling.
Last one.
Sitting back on your seat and allowing yourself to be steady and comfortable.
And for the rest of the practice,
Please don't feel that you need to manipulate the breath or change the breath or make anything different.
All we're doing is just watching the breath,
Observing the breath,
Allowing it to flow in and flow out of the body.
This breathing meditation is a method to calm and steady our mind.
So if you like,
You can place a hand over the heart.
This is called the gesture of self-compassion.
It's always nice to do at the start of our meditation.
Maybe set an intention to be kinder to ourselves and others,
To be more mindful or simply just to be present for our experience,
Just as it is.
Without trying to change anything or make anything different.
Just for this time,
Allowing things to be as they are.
So as we sit here,
There's nowhere to go and there's nothing to do.
And we're breathing.
The breath is happening.
We're just noticing it.
Breathing in.
I know that I am breathing in.
Breathing out.
I know that I am breathing out.
I am breathing in.
I am breathing out.
In.
Out.
You can say the words in,
Out.
A bit like a mantra,
If you find it helpful to help you focus.
It's really normal for the mind to wander,
For the mind to be busy,
To go off into the future or back into the past,
To be distracted,
To be worrying,
To be thinking.
This is what the mind does.
It's not a problem.
But when we practice,
We want to take the flashlight,
The torchlight of our attention,
To help us to steady the mind.
And we use the breath as our vehicle to bring us to the here and the now.
We can even enjoy breathing in.
And enjoy breathing out.
Breathing in.
I allow my breath to go deeper.
Breathing out.
I allow my breath to go slower.
Breathing in deeply.
Breathing out slowly.
Deep.
Slow.
So this deep slow,
It's not auto suggestion.
It's not asking you to manipulate the breath or change the breath.
It's actually just something that happens,
Kind of a fruit of our practice.
Over time,
Gently,
Gradually the breath begins to deepen and slow.
And the space between our breaths is slowing down.
It helps to create a wee bit of more space in the mind and the heart.
Doing this practice of stopping.
And simply being,
Human being,
Not human doing.
And with this stopping and this being arises calm and ease.
Creating space for calm and ease.
And so we can say those words to help generate the calm and ease or just recognise the calm and ease that's already here.
In fact,
It's always here.
We're too busy.
We need to stop to notice it.
Breathing in.
I'm aware that there is calm.
Breathing out.
I am aware that there is ease.
Breathing in.
Calmly.
Breathing out.
Easily.
Easily.
If anything negative or difficult or worrying comes up and interferes with your calm and your ease,
You can check in with the hand over the heart again and just say,
It's OK.
It's OK to feel this.
It's OK to think this.
I'm OK.
If you can,
Gently and kindly return to the breath.
Return to the body.
Remind yourself to simply be.
Simply breathe.
There's no right way to feel.
There's no particular way to be.
Just this moment.
Just as it is.
And oftentimes when we do this,
We feel good.
We feel good,
We feel good,
We feel good,
We feel good,
We feel good,
We feel good,
We feel good,
We feel good,
We feel good.
But even if we don't,
When we practice mouth yoga,
It helps to generate some joy.
Generating a little bit of joy helps us hold the stresses and the difficulties that we inevitably face.
So we say breathing in,
I smile.
Breathing out,
I release all the energy that I have.
I'm opening,
Relaxing facial muscles,
The eyes,
Smile with the heart,
Smile with the liver.
Even just that attitude of smile.
The smile and recognition of this moment.
Breathing out,
I release all tension from my body and all tension from my mind.
Breathing in,
Smiling.
Breathing out,
Releasing tension.
Smiling,
Releasing.
Relaxing.
Letting go.
Letting be.
Just for this one moment.
And as we come to the end of this particular 12 minutes,
You can decide to sit a little bit longer if you like.
Hangers are always better if you have time.
The 12 minutes is perfect.
Just have a moment of gratitude.
For the breath,
For this time,
For ourselves.
So if you like,
You can place a hand on your shoulder,
Across your body,
And just give yourself a little pat.
So well done.
Thank you for practicing with me.
Keep up the good work.
