This somatic practice is a breath sensing practice,
So wherever you are right now,
Just go ahead and find a comfortable place where you can either close your eyes or just soften your gaze and really tune inward to the sensations of your body.
Begin by simply noticing where do you feel the breath most easily in this moment?
Where does the breath feel the most pleasant or simply neutral?
And you don't need to do anything to change the rhythm of the breath.
You're simply observing it.
You might find as you rest your awareness on the breath that it tends to deepen or lengthen on its own.
And if that doesn't happen,
That's also completely fine.
Now we're going to move our awareness to some different places where you might be able to feel sensations of breath.
Let's start with the nose,
Noticing the sensation in your nostrils,
Feeling the movement of air as you breathe in and as you breathe out.
And noting the difference between those two sensations,
The inhale and the exhale.
Notice if you can feel any sensation from the breath on the top of your lip,
Very outer edges of your nostril.
And notice how far back up into your head you feel that gentle movement.
Now bringing our awareness down into the throat,
Just notice if you're able to sense any movement of air as you inhale and exhale in the throat or in the neck.
And if not,
That's okay,
We're just noticing.
Bringing your attention to your upper chest,
Your collarbones,
Your sternum,
Those ribs.
What do you feel here as you inhale?
What do you feel as you exhale?
Letting the awareness drop down into the lower ribs,
Noting the middle back,
Those bottom two ribs.
What do you feel here on each breath?
Noting also the sides of the body,
The lower ribs,
And the solar plexus.
Bringing your awareness down now into the lower belly and even into the pelvis,
Just that lower abdomen.
What do you notice with each breath here?
If you find that there's very little movement,
You might just invite some of the muscles in the belly to relax.
And then noticing your sits bones if you're sitting or your feet if you're standing.
Can you feel any subtle sensations or changes when you inhale and when you exhale?
Is there a slight shift of weight?
Is there a change in pressure or connection?
Now feeling into the back of the body,
Especially if you happen to be laying down or leaning back against something.
What do you feel in the back of the body as you breathe in and out?
Bringing your focus now to your skin,
Can you feel the slight shifting of your clothing over your skin with each breath?
Perhaps on your arms or perhaps on your chest or belly.
And then letting the awareness permeate the entire body,
Feeling the whole body breathing.
Noticing that you can just sit back and observe there's nothing for you to do.
The body is breathing you.
With each inhale,
Feeling the whole body filled and energized by this breath.
With each exhale,
The body relaxes and releases this breath.
And spend a couple more moments here,
Feeling the full body breath in your own rhythm.
One more time,
Breathing in life and energy into the whole body.
And as you exhale,
Relaxing and softly opening the eyes.
