As you are establishing the foundations of your meditation practice,
It can be a good idea to have some routines of arrival.
This short practice will give you an experience of arriving in your breath as you prepare for meditation.
Firstly,
Check in with your body.
Make sure your body is comfortable.
Perhaps you are sitting.
Notice that your spine is straight and your feet are flat on the floor.
Or perhaps you are lying down.
Again,
Be sure that there is no tension in your body.
There are no tight places,
Tight clothing or discomfort.
Do what you can to ease any discomfort in the body as you settle.
Bring your full attention now to your breath.
Noticing,
Is your breath long and slow and deep?
Allowing your breath to move deeply into your lungs.
Notice that you can push your breath down into the bottom of your lungs.
On the next inward breath,
Notice the passage of air through your nostrils and down right into the bottom of your lungs.
Notice that your belly expands as your diaphragm falls and your lungs fill.
And then notice the passage of air as it leaves your lungs.
Enjoy for a moment the knowledge that with each inward breath,
You are bringing in fresh,
New,
Clean air to nourish your body.
And with your outward breath,
You are releasing that which no longer serves you.
The stale,
The old.
On the next inward breath,
Push the air right down into your lungs until you feel that your lungs are full.
And then a little bit more,
Pushing ever so slightly into discomfort.
Then releasing and allowing your lungs to empty again,
Empty,
Empty,
Empty,
And then a little bit more.
Slightly into discomfort and then allow your lungs to fill again.
Release this effort of overfilling and over emptying your lungs and simply allow your breath to fall into a natural,
Deep,
Slow rhythm.
Having an awareness that your lungs are filling the bottom of your lungs and the top and that you are emptying the bottom of your lungs and the top.
Noticing the passage of air.
Across your nose,
Nostrils,
Down into your lungs and out again.
As you have been focusing on your breath and allowing your breath to be long and deep and slow.
Have you noticed your body?
Has your body released some tension?
Deep breaths,
Slow breaths that go right into the bottom of the lungs are a signal to the nervous system to relax and release.
As you allow your breath to be long and slow,
Notice that your body may start to relax,
Soften and release.
On the next inward breath,
Take a tiny moment to notice that at the top of the breath when you have finished breathing in but you have not yet started breathing out.
There is a tiny moment of stillness,
A tiny pause.
Notice that,
Look at that and then breathe out,
Release.
And notice again at the bottom of the breath when you have finished breathing out but have not started breathing in,
There is again a tiny pause,
A tiny moment of stillness.
For the next few breaths,
As you notice your breathing,
Take a moment to notice that pause,
That tiny little moment of stillness.
Now you have established the experience of arriving in your breath and you are ready to move into your meditation practice.
