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Take a moment to let yourself come into a comfortable seated posture.
And on the inhale breath,
Lengthen up,
Stretching the spine upward.
And on the exhale,
Allow your body to settle in to a comfortable,
Relaxed position,
Feeling that most of the weight is taken by your skeleton,
And the head is over the shoulders and the shoulders are over the hips.
If in the early stages you identify some discomfort in the body,
Shift your posture now.
Then begin with your attention on the breath,
Noticing the breath flowing in and out through the nostrils.
Notice the sensation of the breath flowing in and out,
Either at the nostrils,
Or you could feel the sensation of the air flowing through the nasal cavity,
Down the back of the throat,
Expanding the lungs,
Or you might have more of an expansion in the belly with diaphragmatic breathing.
Whichever part of the breathing sensation you find easiest to focus on,
Place your attention there.
See if you can completely feel the entire cycle of the inhale breath,
From the beginning,
Through the middle,
Until the breath is finished.
And then allow for an exhale to just naturally take place.
See if you can keep your attention on the entire process of inhalation,
From the beginning,
Through to the middle,
And the end.
Now try and focus on the exhale breath,
Breathing in naturally,
And hold your attention on the process of exhaling,
From the beginning,
To the middle.
To the end.
And allow the natural breath to flow in again.
And then focus on the sensation of the exhale breath taking place.
And now combine both.
So the inhale breath,
Flowing naturally to the exhale breath.
In the beginning you will probably take control of the breath,
Inadvertently.
And that's alright.
Try not to make the breath forced,
But keep it as natural as possible.
Breathing too deeply might strain the breath,
Might strain the nervous system and the muscles around the breathing.
So allow for the breath to come as naturally as possible.
Ideally,
You want to be able to focus on the entire cycle,
From the beginning of the inhale breath,
To the end of the exhale breath.
If the mind wanders off,
Acknowledge that that has taken place.
Thank your mind,
And then draw your attention back to the breath.
Realise that the drawing of the attention back,
Once it has wandered off,
Is part of the practice,
And therefore so is the component of wandering off.
Most of the time when we begin practicing meditation,
We only notice after the fact that the mind has wandered off.
We become retrospectively aware of the fact that we are no longer focused on the breath.
That is okay.
That does not mean that you are not meditating.
That is part of the practice.
And at the point that you realise that the mind has wandered off,
Your mind is in fact back in the present.
So thank your mind again.
So thank your mind again if it has wandered off.
Draw gently back to the breath,
Focusing on the sensations once again.
Wherever you feel that you are most confident,
Or that you have the most unambiguous sensation of the breath flowing in and out of the body.
You are welcome to continue to practice for as long as you like.
Even though this is a short five-minute practice,
You can continue if you feel settled and relaxed,
And your attention is relatively stable.
Thank you.
