Welcome to the breathing space.
Finding a space where you will be warm and comfortable in the next 20 minutes or so.
Taking a seat on a suitable cushion or on a straight back chair.
But wherever you are,
Allowing yourself to adopt a dignified and erect posture.
Sitting like a mountain.
Present yet stable with a sense of uplift.
Allowing yourself to mould into your chosen position.
But with a wakefulness that allows us to be present.
Becoming aware of gravity.
Noticing the subtle sensations of the downward motion of gravity and how it affects our chosen position.
Taking note of the fabric of our clothes as it brushes our skin.
Perhaps getting a sense of the volume of space which your body is taking up.
Allowing your awareness to rest on your experience as it is in this moment.
And when you are ready becoming aware of the fact that you are breathing.
Allow your attention to rest lightly on your natural breath cycle.
Not changing it in any way or wanting it to be different from the way that it actually is.
And allowing however you find your breath cycle in this moment to be exactly as it is.
Drawing your attention to the physical sensations of the breath.
So wherever that is most prominent for you.
Perhaps your belly as it inflates and deflates like a balloon.
Perhaps your chest as the diaphragm expands and contracts.
Or perhaps for you at the entrance of the nostrils.
Maybe you can feel the air temperature change as you inhale and exhale.
Wherever the physical sensations of the breath are most prominent to you.
Allowing that to be your anchor for the duration of this practice.
Coming back to that same place every time.
Riding the waves of our breath.
Allowing your attention to rest lightly for the full duration of your inhale and the full duration of your exhale.
Perhaps noticing as the exhale climbs into an inhale and the inhale drops into an exhale at the top.
Just noticing however the breath is for you.
However the physical sensations arrive in your body.
Feeling into them.
Letting each breath come and go of its own accord.
You may quickly realize that it's not so easy to keep the attention on the breath.
And the mind likes to have a life of its own.
Whether that's diving into the future.
Planning.
Or dwelling on memories in the past and worrying.
You may experience some impatience.
Perhaps boredom or even sleepiness.
And know that this is totally normal and not a problem at all.
What we are doing here is recognizing what's come to the foreground.
Whatever that is and without judgement.
Then as your mind has wandered.
We just escort it back to the breath when we notice it has wandered.
Recognizing when it has wandered.
Where it has wandered to.
Maybe perhaps making a light note of where it has gone.
Thinking,
Thinking.
Ah,
There's planning.
Ah,
There's judgement.
Just noticing where your mind has gone.
And without being too harsh,
Too critical.
Or judging.
Making a light note and then gently and kindly escorting your attention back to the breath and back to the anchor point in your body that you have chosen.
It's this breath.
Just this moment.
And again,
Moment by moment by moment.
We recognize the mind has wandered.
Ah,
Wandering mind.
The mind wanders a thousand times and we deliver it back to the breath one thousand times.
Being kind,
Being curious.
Not demonizing the mind for wandering but noticing where.
And then with a friendliness,
Escorting it back to the breath.
Again and again.
Each time for the first time.
Each inhalation a new beginning.
And each exhalation a letting go.
Again and again.
We return to the breath.
Moving away from the tendency of wanting things to be different.
And allowing us to rest in our awareness exactly as we are in this moment without judgement.
Recognizing what arises and letting it be.
Just this breath.
And again.
Just this breath.
And just this moment because this moment is the only moment until the next moment.
And that moment is the only moment.
And again and again.
And knowing that you're not failing at meditation by not keeping your attention on the breath.
What we're doing is discovering something innate and important about the mind.
We are noticing the natural habits of our minds.
Not forcing anything.
Not stopping the mind or trying to make the mind go blank.
We're just riding the waves of the mind as it wanders.
Like we ride the waves of our breath.
And each time our mind wanders up and down another wave of planning or thinking or judgement or criticism we notice ah the mind wanders again.
How interesting.
And then gently escorting it back to the breath when we are ready.
And then when you are ready allowing your breath to expand to the whole body.
Allowing the anchor point where your breath was most prominent for you to dissolve from your mind's eye and expand to the corners of your body.
The far reaches of your toes to your head to the outer edges of the skin that envelopes your entire system.
Allowing the body to breathe itself.
Knowing that the awareness that we are cultivating here is available and portable.
What we are cultivating here will naturally spill over into our daily lives.
It is always as close as just this breath or just this moment.
Just this inhale and just this exhale.
And when you are ready allowing your awareness to expand to any sounds that are available to you where you are.
So allowing the body to dissolve from your mind's eye and taking sounds to the foreground of your awareness.
Not going out and hunting for sounds but just allowing them to fall naturally upon your ears.
And as this practice comes to its natural conclusion being gentle with yourself as you move back into the realm of measurable time.
Expressing gratitude to yourself for taking the time to nourish yourself in this way.
Perhaps setting an intention to carve out time for a regular breathing space.
And allowing the space and stillness that we have cultivated here to flow over into the rest of your day.
However it may very rarely such things occur in our lives.
