Feeling steady,
Comfortable,
And awake and aware.
Allowing ourselves the space that we've chosen,
This space to meditate,
Space and time,
To open a little bit to curiosity.
Mind wants to fixate,
Comment,
Critique,
Figure things out.
And we're gonna let that happen without paying much attention to it.
Remembering that the mind isn't controllable as much as our attention is able to enter and withdraw.
The mind is jabbering about.
So we work with the breath.
Breath is this aspect of our being.
Taking in the necessary elements for life.
We're not paying attention,
Happens automatically.
Breathe naturally.
The nervous system adjusts what kind of threat is in the environment or perceived to be in the environment.
So right now we just take a moment to notice how that's happening.
Notice where the breath is happening.
Oftentimes shallowly in the chest.
Notice the body,
The tension.
Start to notice the tension in the body.
Much of this tension is a response to the story,
To the narrative the mind is pushing.
So we identify further with self,
With the story,
With our mind.
We tend to want to retract physically all those issues and problems we're trying to protect ourselves from.
Bracing for some kind of impact that never really happens.
And so we notice our breath,
Notice all that tension,
And then soften the belly.
That can also be challenging.
Just letting that belly soften up,
Flab out,
And directing the breath down into the belly.
So when you take a breath in,
The belly expands outward.
This is a belly breath,
And this is a signal to our nervous system,
To our deep unconscious mind that we're safe in this moment.
Because when we are actually safe,
Our deep unconscious mind will breathe this way.
And so it's hard to tell ourselves to calm down,
To relax,
To let go of something.
But if we physically engage in this way of breathing,
We signal that we are actually safe.
The body,
The unconscious part of our mind starts to turn down all the stress response,
Turn up the relaxation response,
Which does begin to quiet the mind.
Everything seems a little less urgent.
So breathing gently into the belly,
And then gently out.
As you breathe out,
You can just extend that breath just a little bit longer than the in-breath.
It's also another little signal to the body to relax.
Keeping the attention now on the breath,
You can focus on the breath by feeling sensation of that breath come in.
You can train our attention on the sound of the breath.
You can visualize the breath might look like coming into the body.
All of this,
Or each one of these,
Requires our attention to be placed on a sound,
On a feeling,
An image.
For that moment that our attention is there,
We're not also listening to the mind,
To the thoughts.
And whenever you do find yourself commenting,
Criticizing,
Organizing,
Solving,
You can just place a little stamp on that thought or those thoughts with one of those words,
Or just thinking,
Solving.
That helps just give it a little more distance,
Make those thoughts objects in our awareness instead of all of our awareness.
And with each breath in,
Breath out,
Just now elongating them so we're getting fuller breaths,
We're starting to reach that area where we can't take in more breath,
And same on the out-breath.
And really extending that out-breath to feel as though we're letting go of anything that's in there,
Any air.
As you get closer to the end of the out-breath,
Even pulling in the abdomen now to kind of squeeze it out.
Starting to notice all of the sensations as well as noticing how much distraction the mind wants to bring to grab your attention.
Amazing how so much is happening when we're doing very little.
And then as you get to the end of a breath,
In-breath or out-breath,
Just hold the breath for a few seconds,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Before you release and take the next breath on both ends,
After an in-breath,
After an out-breath.
Keeping that focus on the breath,
The sounds,
The feeling,
Noticing the sensation of holding the breath,
Being in between all the sensations of refilling or expelling the air.
Noticing the process of breathing,
Noticing quieter state emerging,
Noticing your ability to notice.
And then after the end of the next out-breath,
Just letting go,
Letting go,
Meaning just no longer taking over the breath,
Pulling back a little bit from your body,
From your feelings and sensations,
And just watching,
Noticing those feelings,
Noticing all that's happening without engaging.
You may notice that your heart is beating,
The lungs are breathing,
Body is doing all its amazing tasks to keep you alive,
Vital in this moment.
And here you are just watching.
And then gently dropping back into the body,
Noticing the sensations,
Feeling into the hands,
Gluing your fingers,
Feeling into your feet,
Wiggling your toes,
Beginning to open your eyes in a way that keeps a soft focus.
Everything out there is the same,
In here is settled,
So things appear a bit different.
And we can take this with us,
This sense of peace,
This sense of quiet,
Attention with us to the rest of our day.
