Please make your way onto your back and settle into a comfortable reclining position.
You can take any props that you like,
Maybe a bolster under your knees or a small pillow under your head.
You can also bring something over your eyes,
An eye pillow or a piece of fabric to block out the light.
Make sure you're comfortable and warm and that you won't be interrupted.
Just begin to settle in,
So maybe move around a little bit and then let the body find stillness.
Feeling the support of the earth under the back of the body.
Just starting to drop your awareness into the physical body but also into the breath.
Not altering the breath at all,
Just noticing the natural breath cycle like ocean waves coming in and moving out.
So we're consciously stepping away from the activity in the external world and settling into our awareness of what's happening inside.
And then as you feel into the breath,
So we're breathing in and out through the nose,
Try to relax your jaw.
So slightly part your teeth,
Soften your tongue and your throat and begin to feel your breath moving in and out through both sides of your nose.
So feeling the texture of the breath,
Even the temperature.
Just feeling it,
Not analyzing it.
And then slowly just bring your awareness so we're not moving the body,
We're just bringing our mind and our awareness to the left side of your nose,
So the left nostril.
And just feel the breath moving in and out through this side.
So you're breathing naturally through both sides but our awareness is more on the left side.
Maybe noticing the natural pauses between the breaths,
So there's a pause at the top of the inhale and there's a slight pause at the bottom of the exhale.
And just keeping your awareness on this left side and then see if you can feel like the whole left side of your body is breathing with the breath cycle.
So as you feel the breath in and out through the left side of your nose,
There's a ripple through the whole left side of the body.
So the left side of the face is breathing,
The whole left shoulder and arm all the way down to your hand and to your fingers.
And the whole left side of your torso,
Your hip,
All the way down your left leg into your left foot into your left toes.
The whole left side of your body is expanding and contracting with your breath.
Good,
Two more breaths staying on this left side.
So feeling the breath through the left side of your nose and moving into the whole left side of your body.
And at the bottom of your next exhale,
Just spreading your awareness back out.
So feel the whole body again.
And now gently guide the mind into the right nostril first.
So shifting,
Feeling a little bit more awareness on the right side of the nose as you breathe.
And just seeing what is present here,
It might be different on this side.
So keeping the awareness on this right side of your nose as you breathe.
Making sure the body is still comfortable and relaxed.
And then as you feel the breath moving in and out through the right side of the nose,
Then kind of expand into the whole right side of the body.
Feel the whole right side breathing and responding to the wave-like rhythm of breath in and out.
So the right side of your head,
Even the right side of your brain and your face are breathing.
And just let that breath travel all the way down your right arm into your hands,
Into your fingers.
Feeling that breath into the right side of your torso,
Down into your hip,
And all the way down the right leg into the foot and into your toes.
The whole right side of your body is breathing.
Staying with this awareness of the right side,
A few more breaths.
Just making sure we don't get caught in any details or any stories.
We're just feeling,
Just breathing.
Keeping it simple.
Great.
The bottom of your next exhale,
Bringing your awareness back into both sides of the nose as you breathe and both sides of the body as you breathe.
So feeling the back of the body and the sides,
The whole front of the body responding to the breath.
And the breath might feel very subtle or maybe it feels pretty spacious today.
It doesn't matter.
Just the action of consciously breathing is enough.
There's no one way of doing this.
Feeling the back of the body as it rests on the earth.
Enjoying this sacred pause.
A few more breaths.
The mind wanders as it naturally will.
Just lovingly bringing the tension back again.
So we re-arrive.
We wander away,
We re-arrive.
Making room and space for whatever is present,
Whatever your experience looks like right now.
A few more moments.
If you have a moment of peace or calm,
Subtle,
Really take it in.
If today you're still pretty active in the mind or something's going on,
We can still hold that with equal awareness.
With the sound of the bell,
Just feeling the space around you coming back into the room.
Just slowly bringing some movements back into the body resurfacing.
And bringing your palms together,
Palm to palm in front of your heart in Anjali Mudra.
And just take a moment to feel gratitude for the time and space to practice.
Namaste.
