And let's begin by bringing awareness into your breath,
Taking a deep breath in and a long slow breath out,
Deepening your inhalations and lengthening your exhalations.
Taking a full breath in and a long slow breath out.
Then let your breath return to its natural rhythm as you bring your awareness into your seat of meditation,
Into your posture.
Feeling your feet firmly placed on the ground,
Feeling the weight of your feet being supported.
Notice the backs of your thighs supported by the chair,
The cushion.
Feeling the sit bones,
The buttocks.
Start to feel the stability or the support that you have in this lower half.
Feeling the weight.
And out of that,
Start to get a sense of elongation or lift through the spine,
Allowing for a sense of alertness,
Brightness.
Without any excess tension or tightness,
Feeling relaxed,
Maybe relaxing the jaw,
Allowing the neck and shoulder area to soften and relax.
Allowing the belly or abdominals to let go,
Relax.
So that you're sitting feet firm,
Hips supported,
Spine tall,
Relaxed yet alert.
Just noticing your whole body sitting here.
And now bringing the awareness or noticing the breath as it naturally comes into the body,
Naturally leaves the body.
Seeing the natural expansion as you inhale,
The natural fall as you exhale.
And then notice where do you feel the breath most predominantly.
Notice the breath mostly at the nose as you inhale,
Feeling the cool air.
Exhale,
May be feeling a little bit more of the warmer air.
Or do you notice it more at the throat as the air moves into the airway?
Maybe noticing it more across the chest and upper back,
Feeling that natural rise and fall there.
Maybe it's most obvious that the belly,
Again,
That natural rise and fall.
Maybe just feel the breath throughout the whole body,
Body moving with the inhalation and with the exhalation.
And so choose the area that is most obvious to you to pay attention to.
And if you have a hard time deciding which one to choose,
Just choose one for today to put your attention,
Your focus.
Noticing your inhalations.
Noticing your exhalations.
And then you might notice that your mind gets a little distracted,
Starts to think.
This is completely natural.
And so the moment that you notice that you started to think is the moment actually of mindfulness.
Notice that you're thinking and then gently,
Kindly bring yourself back to your breath.
Sometimes it's helpful to add a word to the breath to help maintain your focus.
Maybe gently saying the word in as you inhale.
Saying to yourself the word out as you exhale.
If you use the words,
Just let the words be like a whisper.
Main focus is on the sensation of the breath.
Words just a way to maintain the awareness and focus.
And again as the mind starts to be distracted or wandering,
Notice it.
Maybe relax again a little bit more and bring your awareness gently back to your breath.
Knowing that you don't have to do anything.
You don't have to control the breath or have a particular breath pattern.
Rather just sitting back and observing your breath.
Is that animation.
Okay now Ngmen Heaven.
And as we come to the end of the meditation,
Just once again feeling your feet anchored onto the floor,
Feeling the thighs and hips and sit bones supported by your chair,
Feeling the length of your spine,
Feeling relaxed,
Jaw,
Shoulders,
Belly.
And as you hear the sound of the bell,
That'll be indication that our meditation is done.
And as that happens,
Take your time to gently open your eyes and carrying with you that awareness that we move from the sidded meditation of meditating into our daily activities in each moment.
Fragrant music
