5 minute mindfulness of breathing practice.
Take a moment just to ensure you're sitting comfortably in the chair or on the floor.
Just ensuring that you're balanced and upright.
Maybe even rolling your shoulders a couple of times just to make sure that your shoulders are relatively relaxed.
That you're feeling comfortable enough to be able to give your attention to this practice.
Then when you're ready you might choose to gently close your eyes or if you prefer just to maintain a soft gaze at the space in front of you.
I invite you to start by directing your attention to your whole body as it's sitting in the chair or on the floor.
Just having a sense of where you are.
If it's in a room or maybe your desk at work or on a bus or a train.
Just having a sense of where you are at the moment.
A sense of your place right now.
Appreciation of there might be movements around you,
There might be sounds around you.
As we say in mindfulness meditation practice there's no problem with so-called distractions.
Rather than resisting them,
Seeking to change them in any way.
Practice is simply to notice what is now.
So I invite you just to take a moment to do that.
An appreciation of where you are right now.
From there I invite you to bring your attention to the body.
Just any obvious sensations in the body.
There might be areas of tension or tightness.
There might be obvious sensations that call your attention.
And just like so-called distractions around us,
I invite you just to acknowledge any obvious sensations in the body.
Again we're not trying to block them out or change them in any way.
Having a sense of the body however it is right now.
I invite you to gently turn your attention to the gentle movement of the breathing.
A simple rising and falling of each breath.
We'll spend a few minutes just observing that movement of breathing.
We're not trying to control or change our breathing in any way.
Rather all we're doing in this practice is simply observing the sensations of our breathing.
The actual experience itself.
You might notice the air as it passes in through the nostrils.
The sensations as it passes across the upper lip towards the nostrils.
And in to the nose,
Up through the nose to the back of the throat.
You might notice sensations there.
You might notice sensations in the throat itself.
Down into the lungs.
And of course you'll notice sensations as you breathe out as well.
You might choose to focus your attention on a particular part of the breathing.
Be it the upper lip,
The nostrils,
The throat,
Back of the throat in particular maybe.
Or the lungs.
Or even the rising and the falling of the diaphragm.
Whatever calls your attention.
You might otherwise choose to have your attention on the whole experience of breathing.
The in breath and the out breath.
Of course the mind is going to call your attention away to thoughts.
Other things you might think you have to do or places you have to be.
And I invite you when you notice you that you've wandered off to acknowledge that that's happened.
And when you're ready without force or pressure just remind yourself that today I'm here to practice mindfulness meditation in these few short minutes.
I'm going to bring my attention back.
It doesn't matter how many times your mind wanders.
Just each time you notice it I invite you to gently redirect your attention to those sensations of breathing.
Now turning your attention to the body as it's sitting down on the chair or on the floor.
And just reconnecting with where you are here and now.
The space around you.
And when you're ready allowing your eyes to open and ending the practice there.
