Please sit comfortably,
Closing your eyes if you'd like.
You also can put your hand over your heart,
One hand on your belly,
Or both hands on your heart.
Do what feels comfortable to you in this moment.
And remember,
This is about not just awareness,
But also loving awareness for yourself and your experience here today.
Let's start by taking some deep breaths.
Take a slow breath in through your nose,
Breathing in,
Breathing in that nourishing energy,
And exhale what you don't need.
Breathing out.
And again,
Inhaling nourishing energy,
Exhale what you don't need.
One more time,
Inhaling nourishing energy,
Exhale what you don't need.
Go ahead and let that breathing pattern go.
Come back to your natural pace.
Continue feeling the sensation of breath coming in through the nose and out.
And just turning inward,
Noticing the breathing.
Keeping your awareness there for a moment,
For a couple breaths.
You can feel your belly rise on the inhale,
Fall on the exhale.
Notice the rising and falling.
Now focus your attention just on your in-breath,
Letting yourself savor the sensation of breathing in,
Noticing how the in-breath fills you up,
Nourishing you.
Breath after breath.
And then releasing your breath,
Bringing in positive energy to you each day.
And as you just focus on the in-breath,
Breathe in something good for yourself.
What do you need in this moment?
Do you need peace,
Love,
Compassion,
Or kindness?
Just see what comes to mind without overthinking it.
Now feel what you need most.
See if a word or an image comes to mind when you think of that.
Is there an emotion connected with it?
Now shift your focus to your out-breath,
Feeling your body breathe out,
How that feels to be in the exhale.
Releasing what no longer serves you on each exhale.
Now bring to mind someone you love or someone who is struggling and may need some compassion right now.
Picture that person in your mind.
Begin directing your out-breath to them,
Offering the ease of breathing out.
You can also send them some loving kindness,
Send them some other warmth,
Compassion,
Or whatever else you think this person needs in the moment.
Send it out with each out-breath,
Directing it to them.
Now letting go of what you or the other person may need,
Turn your focus to the sensation of breathing compassion in and out,
Sending something good.
So bring yourself something good on the inhale and something good out to the world to someone on the exhale.
So one for you and then one for them.
Now try that again and imagine sending this loving kindness or compassion out to the whole world.
So breathing in that loving kindness for you,
Breathing it out for the world,
All living things.
Breathing in the loving kindness for you,
Breathing it out into the world for all living things.
Now picture one other person you know that might need a lift,
Might need some energy,
Or just some love.
Picture them in your mind.
And taking a breath in and sending it out to them,
That love that they may need.
Imagine that filling up their entire being.
Now on the inhale,
Imagine bringing yourself the love you need.
Breathing in the love,
Exhaling it out to that person.
Sending it in for you,
Breathing it out for them.
Imagine their face lighting up,
Their body responding positively.
And just kind of stay with the breath for a moment,
Focusing on the inhale and the exhale.
And just reminding yourself how it is like the ocean.
Inhale breath in like the wave coming in,
Exhaling like the wave coming out.
A limitless,
Boundless flow.
Feeling the flow coming in,
Flowing out.
Let yourself be a part of this eternal flow from the ocean.
Now imagine it's an ocean of compassion,
Filling you from head to toe with each breath.
Bathing in this,
Steeping in it.
Every cell of your body is filled with this compassion.
And just take a moment to turn your awareness away from your breath,
Coming back into the room where you are,
Noticing where you're seated.
If you're on a chair,
Feeling the sensations of the chair beneath you,
Hearing the sounds around you.
And take these feelings of love,
Kindness and compassion with you the rest of the day.
