Welcome to this five-minute mindful check-in meditation practice,
Taking just a few minutes out of your day to connect with your body and mind,
Bringing a sense of open curiosity to your current experience,
Whatever that may be right now.
So finding a supported posture,
Either sitting in a chair or on the floor or even standing.
Taking a couple of deep breaths in,
Fully noticing the inhale,
Expanding the lungs and the belly and following the exhale,
Contracting the belly,
Emptying the lungs,
Dropping the shoulders away from the ears,
Softening the jaw,
Smoothing the face if possible,
Bringing attention to the fact that you are breathing the body as a whole,
Breathing itself with very little effort.
Moving attention to the body,
Noticing points of contact,
Perhaps the feet with the floor or the support of the chair,
Noticing the weight and the positioning of your hands in your lap or at your sides,
Scanning through the body briefly just to note what is here,
What sensations are present in this moment.
Perhaps your attention has already wandered away,
Remembering that this is what the mind does.
It looks for things to think about,
Becomes easily distracted,
No judgment required,
Just noticing and returning.
Coming back now to a sense of the breath,
Feeling at the belly as the breath expands and softens the belly,
Noticing the rising and falling of the chest as the lungs fill and empty,
Feeling the movement of air in the back of the throat as it flows through the windpipe,
And resting attention at the nose,
Noticing air flowing in and out through the nostrils.
Just noticing breathing,
Attending to each breath as its own unique event.
Each breath is unique,
Noticing its qualities.
Is it smooth or rough,
Deep or shallow,
Forced or easy?
Not controlling the breath or changing it in any way,
But just noticing.
This mindful check-in is a way to pause in the daily rush,
To just connect with the body and the breath,
To calm the body,
Focus the mind,
And reconnect with the present moment,
Wherever you are in whatever you are doing,
Being fully present and attentive as you move through your day.
