Welcome to this calm your mind open your heart meditation.
I'm Victoria and today we'll be exploring how to really feel the experience of breathing rather than getting caught up in thinking about breathing.
We'll begin by taking a moment to stretch and find a comfortable position.
Allow your arms to rest softly on your lap or gently on your knees.
Make sure your back is straight but not stiff.
Let the weight of your body anchor you to your cushion or chair.
Just feeling in to any places of contact or pressure as you gently close your eyes.
Pause any mental chatter.
Perhaps you've been rehashing the past or rehearsing the future or just judging the present.
See if for the next few moments you can let that go.
As you just slowly take a deep breath in through the nose and release fully through the mouth.
If you need,
Try even sighing out the mouth.
Just take a few more deep breaths here.
Inhaling deeply and as you exhale give permission to all of the muscles in your body to relax and be at ease.
Now soften the breath and return it back to normal feeling effortless and easy.
Sit for a moment and just observe your breath as it flows in and out.
On the inhale,
Notice as the breath arrives and on the exhale allow it to float gently away.
Begin to bring awareness to your body noticing any tension in your face checking into the forehead,
The cheeks,
And the area of the mouth and jaw.
Just breathing into any tension allowing your face to soften.
Feeling into your throat,
Your neck,
And shoulders.
Breathing deeply into any tightness that might be here now and as you do you may notice a bit of a release.
Let your awareness return to the breath as you relax your body and settle into this moment.
Open your awareness and see where you notice your breath most prominently in your body.
You might find you can feel yourself breathing throughout your whole body or you might notice that it's most distinct in one or a few areas.
Let's begin by checking in with the abdomen.
Place a hand on your abdomen and just breathe normally.
Let go of your thoughts about breathing and just experience whatever sensations come up for you.
You may notice your belly is moving up and down.
We'll sit for a moment and just explore all sensations that arise in the abdomen in this moment and this moment and this moment.
Relax your awareness and see what came up for you.
What was this experience of breathing like?
Perhaps you felt an expansion or a rising or a contraction and a falling.
Maybe it was more of an inflating and a deflating.
As we return our attention to the abdomen,
See if you can notice the stillness between the in-breath and the out-breath and again between the out-breath and the in-breath.
Notice when your mind starts to wonder or if it starts thinking about breathing and just let it return back to the felt sensation and experience whatever arises.
Now let your awareness move up into your chest and throat area.
If you'd like you can put your hand on your chest and just take a few breaths here normally and notice what you feel.
Just begin to feel into the experience of breathing in your chest and throat and breathing out of this area.
See what sensations arise for you.
Relax your awareness and just see what you noticed.
Try expanding your awareness now and see if you can feel the rise and the fall of the breath in the shoulders.
Notice if it creates a tickle or other sensation in the throat and see now as we return our attention here if you can be with this moment of stillness between the in-breath and out-breath and the out-breath and in-breath.
Not thinking about the stillness but just simply observing it with openness and curiosity.
Notice if your mind begins to wander and just bring it back to the felt sensations.
Now direct your attention upward to your upper lip and nostrils.
If your hand is still on your chest you can rest it softly in your lap or on your knee.
Take a few breaths here just feeling in to what it feels like to have air flowing in through your nostrils and coming out through your nostrils.
Perhaps it will be a very subtle feeling or for you maybe it's very distinct.
Just experience whatever comes up as you play with the felt sensations of the breath in the nostrils.
Perhaps as you've let your attention rest here you've felt a tickling sensation in your nose or on your upper lip.
Maybe you've noticed the cool air as it comes in and the warm air as it releases.
We'll sit for a moment and see if we can just notice the stillness here.
Noticing the pause between the in-breath and the out-breath and the out-breath and the in-breath.
Being aware but not with judgment and not with our thinking mind.
Just really noticing and experiencing.
Relax your awareness and just find the breath in this moment.
Wherever it shows up most distinctly for you.
Perhaps it's where it feels most interesting or obvious or just the easiest to pay attention to.
Allow this place to be your anchor where you come back to time and time again to focus your awareness and bring some stillness to your mind.
For the next few moments we'll sit focused on the embodied felt experience of breathing until I ring the bell.
Thank you for listening.
To this calm your mind open your heart meditation.
I wish you ease and peace throughout each moment of this day.
