Beginning by settling into a comfortable seated posture,
Making an effort to embody wakefulness,
Alertness,
Perhaps closing the eyes or softening the gaze and turning our attention inward.
First directing our attention towards the mind,
Noticing if there are any thoughts present.
Seeing if we can see thoughts as just fleeting mental events coming and going.
Perhaps labeling them,
Thinking,
Thinking,
Planning,
Planning,
Judging,
Judging.
And also seeing if there are any emotions around those thoughts.
In particular,
Noticing if there are any unpleasant emotions.
And if so,
Seeing if we can open up a little bit more to them being here right now.
Perhaps saying to ourselves,
Ah there you are,
That's how things are right now.
Noting also any sensations in the body,
Sensations of tightness or holding,
Maybe neutral sensations,
Tingling,
Maybe even pleasant sensations of warmth or comfort.
And moving on to step two now,
Where we're going to gather our attention in the belly region.
So deliberately shifting our attention now into the belly and noticing the rise and the fall of the belly as we breathe in and we breathe out.
Not controlling or manipulating the breath,
But just stepping back and observing the body breathe itself.
Just following the rise and the fall.
And moving to step three and allowing awareness to expand around the belly.
Gradually becoming aware of the whole body,
Just sitting here,
Breathing on its own.
Perhaps noticing a greater sense of spaciousness.
And when you're ready,
Letting the eyes open and seeing if it's possible to maintain the sense of spaciousness as you go about your day.
