Welcome.
The anchor in today's meditation is the breath.
Connecting with your breath is the most common method for being present.
The widest spread meditation technique.
There are a variety of breath awareness meditations or techniques of mindfulness breathing.
In today's practice you will choose the area in your body where you can feel your breath the most.
This could be the nostrils,
The back of the mouth above the throat,
The throat itself,
The chest including lungs and rib cage,
Or the abdomen.
You will go through the different areas first so that you can feel into each area,
Helping you to become aware of where your breath is felt the easiest today.
Once you've chosen your area,
Your focus point,
You try to stick with it.
If you really have to,
Only if you cannot feel your breath at your initially chosen focus point anymore,
Or if you notice that your breath has become more dominantly felt in another area,
Then you can change the area of focus once during the meditation.
But do not raise from one area to the next.
Don't allow your awareness to jump.
Try to bring your awareness to rest at your chosen area.
And observing with curiosity,
Observing as a detached witness.
Start now by sitting in a comfortable meditation posture.
Adjust your posture.
Find a long spine.
Relax your shoulders.
Neck long.
Chin parallel to the ground.
Close your eyes.
And take a deep breath in through the nose.
Exhale out through the mouth.
Do this again.
Inhale.
And exhale.
Return now to your natural breath.
Start by observing the natural and spontaneous breathing process.
Develop awareness of the rhythmic flow of the breath.
Do not control the breath in any way.
Just let it flow.
Just observe.
As if this was the first time that you noticed that you were breathing.
Tuning into your breath.
As the air flows in and out.
In and out.
Start now with noticing your breath at the nostrils.
Feeling the breath flowing in and out of the nose.
Feeling that the air is cooler as you inhale.
And that the air is warmer as you exhale.
Observe your breath at your nostrils.
Thank you for watching.
Moving on from here to the mouth,
Above the throat,
Or the throat itself.
Feel the flow of air going past there.
Keep observing.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
California Institute of Technology Shift your awareness now to the region of your chest,
Your lungs,
Your rib cage,
Your collar bones.
Feeling the expansion and the relaxation in the area.
The movement in the region of your chest.
Observe.
The movement in the region of your chest.
Moving to the abdomen now.
Feel the gender rising and falling over your belly with each and every inhalation,
With each and every exhalation.
The movement in the region of your chest.
In which one of these four areas was it easiest for you to notice your breath,
To feel your breath,
To connect to your breath.
Choose now and make this one area your focus point,
Your point of concentration,
Your anchor for today's meditation.
Observe your breath at this area with your full awareness,
Noticing every little detail,
Feeling all the sensations of the breath,
One breath at a time.
Keep observing your breath.
Stay connected to your breath.
Music 0 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 11 20 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 28 29 30 Whenever you notice that your mind has started wandering,
Maybe you drifted off into thinking,
Maybe you got distracted by sounds,
Maybe you got completely lost in a storyline of the mind.
As soon as you notice,
Gently return your awareness to your breath,
To your chosen focus point,
The area where you can feel your breath the most.
Keep coming back to that area.
Keep coming back to that area.
Keep coming back to that area.
Keep coming back to that area.
If the need arises to change your focus point,
Try to decide if this is the mind playing games or if your felt sense of your breath has actually changed.
Do you feel your breath now more easily in another area or is it just your mind telling you to change the area because it was getting bored?
Connect to your breath.
Connect to the feeling of your breath in your body at your chosen focus point.
Keep observing the attitude of a detached witness without trying to control,
Without trying to change.
Just observe as you're breathing in and out,
In and out.
▼ you you you you you you with your awareness chosen focus point connected to your breath.
Take three deeper conscious inhalations and exhalations bringing you back into this space.
And then when you feel ready,
Ready to leave today's meditation,
Open up your eyes.
