Hi,
My name is Denis.
Over the next few minutes I'll offer a gentle guidance into the first step of mindfulness of breathing.
All right,
It's time for meditation.
And before we do actually our meditation,
Let's relax our body.
Just make sure you have a comfortable posture.
Your back should be straight,
But not military straight,
Just reasonably straight.
And if it's comfortable for you to sit on the floor,
Then sit on the floor,
Otherwise just sit on the chair.
Let's prepare our bodies.
Let's observe your body from the head,
Starting from the head.
See if your head is relaxed.
And see your shoulders.
Are they relaxed?
Your arms.
See your chest.
Your abdomen.
Relax if it needs.
Just try to feel your back,
Your upper back,
Your lower back.
And relax your pelvis area,
Hips,
Knees,
Calf muscles,
Feet.
And relax,
Release all your tension.
And we're going to follow our breath.
So in anapanasity technique,
We start observing our breath.
And this first exercise,
We observe our long breath.
So first,
Just find your natural breath.
Feel like the breath entering your nose.
Feel all the sensations that accompany your breathing in and breathing out.
So you follow your inhale,
Follow your sensations of your inhale.
Know where is the end of inhale,
And then go for exhale.
And see what are the sensations that accompany our exhale.
Make your breath longer,
A little bit longer than your natural breath.
Just extend the time of your breathing in and your breathing out for just a few seconds.
No more.
Just one or two seconds.
Two seconds should be enough,
I guess.
If we do this,
It will be easier for us,
First of all,
To follow our breath.
Not being interrupted,
Distracted.
And this breathing actually helps us to relax our body.
So,
See the beginning of your breath.
Try to feel the touch of the air,
How air touches your nostrils.
And then continue your breath.
Feel the middle of the breath.
Notice,
You may feel extension in your chest area.
Then continue and see,
You may have sensations in your stomach area.
And then you have a pause between inhale and exhale.
And continue with exhalation.
Also try to feel when you begin your exhale,
When there is a middle of your exhale and the end.
And,
Of course,
I'm telling it quite slow.
It takes a long time for a first explanation.
But you do it in your own rhythm,
In your own pace.
Your task is just to find your normal breath,
Whatever it is,
And make it a little bit longer.
Just stretch,
Just extend the time of your inhalation and your exhalation.
On this stage of our practice,
Our task is to make our attention to follow our breath.
If you feel your mind got distracted,
You're losing your attention,
Your attention trying to sneak away,
Thinking about your problems,
Thinking about your friends,
About your family,
Your relative,
Your relatives.
If you find your mind doing this just slowly,
Gently,
Without punishing yourself,
Without criticizing,
Just bring your attention back to your observation and observe your breathing ins and breathing outs.
Your breath entering your nose and then you feel all the sensations that accompany your breath.
You're breathing in,
Breathing out,
And breathing in,
Breathing out in your own rhythm,
In your own speed.
The length of your breathing ins and breathing outs is a little bit longer than its normal way,
Than its normal length.
Now is the time for meditation for you.
No need to think about anything else.
You're just staying here with your own breath,
With all your attention on your breath and continue doing it.
You're doing great.
No worries.
If you have from time to time to bring your attention back from your kids,
From your wife,
Or husband,
Or from your work,
From your office,
Sit straight,
Check the position of your back from time to time and continue observing your long breath for some time.
