Hello this is Clive.
This is a 10 minute breathing meditation.
So let's start by sitting comfortably either in a chair or on a cushion and let's set our intention for the next few minutes to to be fully with this meditation.
There are other things going on in our life,
Plenty of them,
And they can wait a few minutes until we're done here.
Bring your focus into your body,
Feel yourself sat on the cushion and begin to feel your breathing.
And just notice where you feel it most strongly is that maybe at the tip of your nose as you breathe in and out or in the rising and falling of your chest or your belly maybe,
Wherever it is use that as the focus for your meditation today.
So just simply pay attention to the breath,
Pay attention to the in-breath and the out-breath.
Notice the pause between the in-breaths and the out-breaths.
How long is it?
How does it compare one breath to the next?
There's no particular way we need to be breathing,
Just breathe naturally and pay attention to what you notice as you breathe.
See if you can catch the very beginning of the breath,
Just the very beginning of that in-breath and follow a breath all the way through in and out and then catch the beginning of the next in-breath.
If you find it helpful you might note your breaths,
You might notice in as you breathe in and out as you breathe out or you might choose to count your breaths again count one as you breathe in and maybe one as you breathe out and then two for the next breath and so on.
If you can get to ten then you start again.
If you notice thoughts arising that's okay you can just notice them too,
You can notice thinking and then just bring your awareness your attention back to the breath,
Let the thought go.
The more you pay attention to each breath the more details you might notice,
Exactly how one breath feels compared to the next one.
Again if thoughts come you don't need to hop on the thought train with them and follow them along as soon as you become aware you can just note it and go oh I was thinking.
You don't need to judge yourself thinking is what we do every day but for now we're witnessing our meditation so we bring our attention back to the breath.
If you're counting your breaths then when you lose track if you notice you've gone off with the thought just begin again it's very simple.
This noting can help us keep track of how we're doing but it's not a competition this isn't about anything other than just just noticing when we've been distracted if that happens becoming aware of it and bringing our attention back to the object of our focus to our breathing.
That's all we need to do.
No special way of breathing there's no trick to it it's just our breath.
We've done it every day since we were born and we never normally give it a moment's thought but just for these few minutes using it as the object of our focus can help bring us into awareness of the of the present moment of exactly what's going on right here right now.
So be aware of each in-breath and each out-breath.
And then for the last minute or so just begin again as if this was your very first breath as if this were the very first time you'd ever noticed a breath.
Just notice how marvelous it is.
How does it feel to breathe for the first time?
This sensation we feel every moment of our day how does it feel to notice it and really give it our full attention?
As we conclude this meditation we can bring our attention back into the room take a couple of deep breaths roll our shoulders have a little stretch like a cat waking up and then when we're ready we can open our eyes.
Thank you.
I hope you found this meditation useful and that you continue with your practice.
