This meditation is a breathing exercise also known as pranayama and it's called belly breathing.
So come to lay down or sit tall on a chair or soft surface.
Feet flat on the floor if you're sitting,
Spine long,
Get comfortable.
Take the right hand to your belly and the left hand over your heart.
Close your eyes or soften your gaze and take it down past the tip of your nose.
Begin to notice the qualities of your breath long or short,
Deep or shallow,
Warm or cool,
Fast or slow,
Knowing that none of these are right or wrong,
Just that these qualities are what they are in this present moment.
As you observe,
Connect with the sound or sensation of your inhales and exhales.
Just breathing,
Not trying to do anything fancy,
Just breathing and noticing and observing.
Interact with your heart and hear your breathing.
Begin to deepen the breath into your belly.
As you inhale,
Allow the belly to expand and lift into your right hand.
As you exhale,
Allow the belly to soften and draw in towards the spine.
Breathing into the belly,
The belly button lifts into your hand and drops down towards the spine as you breathe out.
Continue this for a few rounds.
Keeping your breath in the area of your belly,
Inhaling to expand and exhaling to soften.
Continuing this breath,
If you notice that your mind or your thoughts begin to wander,
Just know that it's okay and it's normal.
Just bring your attention kindly and gently back to the sound or sensation of your breath.
Breathing into the belly,
Exhale,
Soften.
On your next inhale,
Allow your breath to expand both your belly and your chest this time.
And then exhale,
Everything softens.
Inhale to fill the belly and the torso.
They lift into your right and left hand.
And exhale out through the nose.
On your in-breath,
Feel the ribs expand from side to side,
From front to back.
And then exhale,
Everything draws back in towards the midline center of your body.
Inhaling in a 360-degree radius all around you,
Breath expands the belly and the chest.
Exhale out.
Keep breathing,
Filling the whole torso up with breath.
Imagining that your torso was a balloon that you could inflate and almost pop with your breath without straining.
Each time you exhale,
Everything softens a little bit more.
Continue this breath for a few more rounds.
Remembering to breathe into your hands on your in-breath and let the hands fall in towards the spine with each out-breath.
Feel both of your hands rising on your inhale and both hands drawing in towards the midline as you exhale.
One more round of breath,
Big deep inhale.
Full controlled exhale.
And then let the breath return to its normal pattern and quality.
Noticing how the breath may be different from how it was at the beginning of this practice.
Observing any shifts that took place within your body,
Within your mind,
Within your thoughts and emotions.
Observing if you feel any different.
And if you don't,
That's okay too.
If you're sitting,
Gently dip the chin in towards the chest.
And together we'll slowly blink the eyes open with a soft hazy gaze.
Taking in the space around us slowly.
As we bring ourselves back into the present,
Back into the room.
Good.
Thank you for sharing this meditation and belly breathing exercise with me today.
Namaste.
