Find a way to sit that enables you to be both relaxed and alert.
A comfortable posture of acceptance and openness.
Allowing the breath to enter the body and exit the body just as it is.
Not to the idea of the breath,
But to the immediate felt sense of the air entering the body.
Perhaps the sensation of coolness at the nostrils.
The movement of the air.
Any sensations that you can feel as it travels into the body,
Filling the lungs.
Perhaps a sense of the expansion of the chest and belly filling up.
And then the feeling of fullness in the beginning of the out breath,
The emptying out.
The warmer air passing back out through the nostrils.
Relaxation in the body that accompanies the exhale.
And then attending to the next breath,
Not as repetition,
But as a new experience.
Something to approach with curiosity and interest.
Seeing the breath as a place to rest the attention.
A place to return the attention.
When the mind runs away with a story,
Perhaps planning or fantasizing about the future.
Then the mind chooses to replay images from the past.
Attending to each breath,
Becoming aware of the sensations that arise during the in breath,
Wherever they are in the body.
And the sensations that arise during the out breath.
These can be the obvious sensations of the chest or belly rising and falling.
Or they can be subtle sensations,
A slight tingling or warmth at the nostrils,
Or rising and falling in the shoulders.
When the mind becomes preoccupied,
There is no need to judge the experience or judge your ability to concentrate.
Just notice how it is to become aware of the minds movement.
A movement no more personal than weather.
And notice the movement,
And we notice how it is to return our attention to what's here now.
The actual felt sense of the breath.
The sensations that accompany the in breath,
The sensations that accompany the out breath.
Having permission to set aside all other tasks,
There is no need to plan or try to make something happen or to analyze what's happening.
We don't have to change anything or achieve a particular result.
The practice is simple.
We tend to the sensations of breathing.
And for this time,
When the mind moves,
We notice that feeling,
That return of awareness.
We are suddenly aware of what the mind is doing as it's doing it.
And this is the opportunity to reconnect with what's here through the sensations of the breath.
Each time we notice the minds movement,
We have an opportunity to return to what's here,
And return to the breath.
