So often our minds are like busy machines,
Automatically thinking one thought after another,
Planning,
Remembering,
Worrying,
Imagining.
Bringing ourselves into a regular time of sitting quietly and bringing a gentle focus to some particular object of attention can start to release this habit of autopilot thinking where we are never really present in this moment.
Tuning into our experience right here,
Right now,
Helps us to reclaim the moments of our lives that otherwise become lost in a haze of past and future thinking.
Notice now the position of your body,
Sitting upright and feeling for the head balanced over the shoulders and the arms in a relaxed position,
Hands on your thighs or in your lap.
Let your eyes come closed and start to draw your attention inwards.
Become aware of your body breathing and notice for the next few breaths where you feel the movement of your breath.
Your in-breath filling the body,
Your out-breath releasing the body.
Notice the breath at your nostrils as you draw in the breath and as you release the breath.
Feel the coolness of the air as it enters your nostrils and notice the difference in temperature as the air leaves the body warmed by its time in your lungs.
Begin to extend your in-breath filling your whole chest and lungs,
A long slow in-breath followed by a long slow out-breath relaxed and open.
You may feel the sensations of fullness and broadness across your chest on your in-breath and the sense of softening and spaciousness as you breathe out.
Continue to allow the in-breath to be long and slow,
Letting the body open to receive the nourishment of oxygen as it transfers to every cell in the body.
Allow the out-breath to be relaxed and slow,
Matching the length of the in-breath,
Releasing the air and the carbon dioxide transferred out of your bloodstream back into the environment where the plants and trees can breathe it in for their nourishment.
Notice if there's any resistance to the flow of the breath into the body,
Any tension in the chest or belly,
And allow space to be there to receive the breath.
As you breathe out,
Let the shoulders and chest and belly relax and soften,
Allowing that out-breath to be long and unforced.
Continue with these long slow in-breaths and relaxed extended out-breaths,
Never rushing.
If the mind wanders and you've lost track of your breathing,
Just gently come back to the breath again and continue with your long breaths,
Allowing the body to release tension,
Allowing the nervous system to quieten,
The heart rate and blood pressure to lower,
Feel-good hormones to rise and stress hormones to drop.
Feel the nutrition you offer to your body and your whole being with your breathing.
Relax through the eyes and soften through the mouth.
Sense with your in-breath a softening of the whole body,
A sense of receptiveness to this moment just as it is.
Feel with your out-breath how the throat,
Chest and belly soften and relax and let your attention be relaxed too.
Just remain softly present and each time the mind wanders and you notice it's wandering,
You gently return to your flow of breath.
This is the simple practice of mindfulness,
Returning again and again to this moment.
Bring awareness to your hands as you breathe in and as you breathe out,
Feel the hands relax and soften.
Feel your hands resting softly on the surface beneath them.
As you next breathe in,
Feel that long slow breath enter into the area of your heart,
Broadening and opening the space around your heart.
Notice how this feels.
As you let your breath move out in its relaxed slow pace,
Feel your heart soften and nestle safely into your chest.
Widen your awareness now to the whole body breathing.
As you breathe in,
Visualize the nourishment of oxygen transferring from the margins of your lungs into your bloodstream and traveling through all the pathways of your bloodstream,
Feeding nourishment to every single cell in the body.
Every cell breathes with you.
As you allow the breath to move out of the body,
Again visualize the furthest extremities of the body,
The hands and feet up through the legs and arms,
Through the pelvis and all the organs of the torso,
The head and brain,
All the cells of the body,
Releasing the waste products not needed anymore,
The carbon dioxide transferring back from the margins of your lungs into the air you breathe out.
This alchemical process occurring every time you breathe in and breathe out.
Now let go of any specific focus on the body or even on the breath.
Just feel your presence now in this moment.
Visualize what arises in awareness,
Sensations in your body,
Feelings arising,
Sounds you can hear near and far.
Perhaps the sensations of scent or taste,
Thoughts coming and going.
Let it all be just as it is,
Moment by moment.
Suspended in this moment lightly,
Effortlessly,
Just as it is.
As thoughts come,
Let them move away without force,
Turning back again and again into this moment of awareness.
Relax and let go into this present moment awareness.
Now settle into yourself for a few breaths more,
Landing home in your body,
In your breath,
In your being.
