Welcome to a breathing meditation.
Assuming a position that is both supportive,
Alert,
But also relaxed,
A relaxed alert posture.
Just sensing into what it is that you are sitting on or laying on,
Whether it's a bed or a chair.
And just beginning to bring awareness to this experience.
Recognizing that the mind has been moving all day,
Or if it's the morning,
All night.
And so it takes a moment just to sort of gather your awareness here in this moment.
And beginning to pay attention to the body as a whole,
Sensing into the body and just what's there to be experienced.
Not trying to grasp at an outcome,
Not judging something as good or bad,
Just noting what's here,
What's here to be experienced in that open and accepting way.
And beginning to pay attention now,
To move that attention from the broader body,
Directly to the breath.
And this could be the breath in the belly.
It could be the breath in the chest.
Maybe even it's the breath as it moves through your nostrils.
Wherever it is that it is easiest for you to locate the breath,
Inviting you now to go there.
To go to the breath and just note its quality.
Attending to an inhale and to the exhale,
The rising and the falling of the belly.
If that's where your attention is,
The expanding and the expanding of the belly,
And contracting of the chest.
If your attention is in the chest,
And if you're in the nose and the nostrils,
Perhaps it's the movement of the breath,
Its coolness or its warmth across your upper lip or through your nostrils.
Just attending to what's here.
Allowing the breath to anchor you to this present moment.
Riding it like a wave,
Moment by moment.
Attending to its nature,
To its quality.
You may even support yourself by creating a label for the inhale,
Inhale,
And then for the exhale,
Exhale.
It could be in and out.
If that's supportive,
Or you can simply just attend to the breath.
And then also recognizing the tendency for the mind to wander.
And that is what the mind does,
It wanders.
And so when it wanders,
When it begins to think,
You can simply just note it as thinking.
You can even create a mental label of,
Oh,
Thinking.
And then gently guiding yourself back to whatever breath anchor you've chosen.
The rising and the falling of the breath.
The belly moves with the breath.
The chest expands and contracts with the breath.
The breath,
The air moves in and out of the nostrils.
And as it exits your nostrils,
It enters into the space that exists around you.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Each half of the breath,
The inhale and the exhale.
This natural process that occurs without your conscious attention.
Always happening,
Always available for attention.
Allowing this practice to anchor you in the present moment and utilizing the breath as that anchor.
Moving with it moment by moment.
When you become distracted,
By emotions,
By sensations or thoughts,
You can simply nod at those sensations or bow to them and gently return,
Bringing your awareness back again and again.
As we've been focusing on the breath in these regions of the body,
The belly or the chest or the nose,
I'm inviting you now to gently expand your awareness out.
Recognizing that you're still breathing,
But broadly attending to your entire body as you do so.
Sensing into the body as it breathes as a whole.
You may sense into other movements or other ways in which the breath moves through your body or affects your body.
And if it feels supportive,
You can continue to expand awareness out further into the room or environment that you are in.
Still attending to your breath.
Just expanding awareness,
Taking in the space around you.
Including your body and this breath.
And when it feels supportive,
If your eyes were closed,
You can begin to open them and just gently take in the light and the space around you.
You can bring some movement back to your toes,
Your hands,
Your legs,
Gently shifting from side to side.
And keeping with you throughout the course of your day as best you can this presence,
This awareness that you've cultivated during this time of practice.
