Welcome to today's practice.
The focus of this meditation is to create a sense of balance for yourself.
Now we sometimes think of balance as a state that we want to be aiming towards all the time.
But the definition of it itself is a reminder that balance is not a constant state.
It's very likely that through our days and our weeks and years,
We come in and out of it.
And that's okay.
What is interesting to remember as well is that at any point in your day,
You have the opportunity to bring yourself back to that state.
And that can be as simple as the pause,
Like this one.
So as we get into the practice,
Make yourself comfortable sitting with your spine upright,
Shoulders down,
Reaching yourself into the earth.
And if it's not the case already,
Close your eyes.
Taking a moment here simply to observe how you meet yourself in the stillness.
Notice the sensations in the body,
Whatever comes up to your attention.
Notice the state of your mind,
The natural rhythm of your breath,
The color of your heart.
Simply taking a moment to observe,
To acknowledge the current landscape of the world within you,
Without the need to judge,
Simply as a way to know.
And then come to bring attention back into the breath specifically.
If possible,
Letting the breath flow through the nose,
In and out.
Noticing the movement of the breath from the nostrils,
Down the throat,
The chest and the belly.
Letting the breath come a little bit more down to the belly.
Without feeling like you're forcing it artificially,
But simply giving you the opportunity to expand a little bit the length of your breath.
And then keeping your attention on the breath,
You'll introduce a gentle counting in your head.
Inhaling to a count of four,
Then holding the breath in for a count of four.
Exhaling on a count of four,
And then holding on an empty breath for a count of four.
Now you can count at the speed that you like.
It really doesn't matter how fast or slow you count.
And also,
Note that it might take a couple of rounds for you to get to that balanced breath.
Take your time.
Inhale four,
Hold for four.
Exhale four,
Hold for four.
We call this technique box breathing.
If you're more of a visual person,
You can actually visualize the four sides of that box being drawn with each step of the breath.
Or if you'd rather,
You can simply stay with the counting and noticing the feeling of the breath in your chest and your belly.
Either way,
Just keep maintaining that state of balanced breath.
Inhale four,
Hold for four.
Exhale four,
Hold for four.
If at any point you lose the count of breath or you get distracted by sound around you or by thoughts,
Remember that it's normal.
Thoughts like to do that.
But when you notice,
Just bring yourself back to this box breathing,
The four sides of the breath,
As simply as you can.
You can let go of the counting in your head.
Let the breath return to a more natural pace.
And there again,
Drawing your attention to the world within you,
Noticing the sensations in the body,
State of mind,
Your breathing,
Your state of heart.
Maybe taking note of any shift that may have happened through the practice.
Balance is not a state that we can maintain all the time.
But when we feel really out of it,
We can use this kind of technique to bring ourselves back to more balanced state.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
I'll see you again tomorrow.
