You can do this meditation lying down or seated upright.
If you have chosen to sit upright,
Please lean back against a wall for the purpose of this meditation.
Please be mindful that you're not slouching back and your spine is relaxed but upright.
Whatever you've chosen,
Allow yourself some time to arrive in your body.
You can fidget as much as you need to,
Moving through your pelvis,
Shoulders,
Head until you feel completely comfortable to begin.
Without needing to change anything,
Can you begin to notice your breath?
Use rhythm on the inhale and exhale.
Notice the quality of your breath.
Does it feel long,
Short,
Deep or shallow?
Does your breath feel expansive or restrictive?
Or does it feel full?
Mindfully being with any quality without needing to change it.
Simply notice how your breath is feeling and moving through your body today.
Gently place your hand on your belly.
Notice how your belly is naturally expanding and deflating as you breathe.
Allow yourself to be with that rhythm.
Observe what happens to the belly on the inhale compared to the exhale,
Much like a beach ball or a balloon that is expanding and deflating inside of you.
Now gently bring your hands as comfortably as you can to the side ribs.
A gentle touch is fine.
Begin to feel the horizontal expansion of your ribs as you inhale.
If you are using your ribs to spread the skin on the side,
Notice how that feels.
Taking deeper inhales,
Feeling the spread of the skin.
And now feeling the deflation of the ribs as you exhale.
Knowing how the skin settles and relaxes when you exhale.
Staying here for a few breaths.
Now remove your hands and continue to feel into the sensation on both sides.
Sensing into your rib motion.
And now turn your awareness to your back.
Gently lean your back against the wall behind you or feel your whole spine as you lie on the back.
Can you begin to imagine that your back is expanding into the wall or into the floor underneath you,
Like that same beach ball or balloon from before,
As you inhale feel it expand behind or underneath.
Stay curious to any sensations along the spine,
Along your back.
Consciously unraveling any tension in your back body as you observe how it expands and settles.
Breathing into your back,
Exhaling.
Beautiful now can you place a hand above your collarbone on your uppermost rib.
And then place your other hand on your lower belly,
As comfortably low as possible so that you can sense into your pelvic floor.
Begin to feel the rise of the upper ribs and the gentle undulation of the pelvic floor as you inhale and exhale.
As you exhale you may feel the pelvic floor rise and the spine lengthen upwards.
And if you can't sense anything at first,
Do not worry.
Just notice whatever you can right now,
Even just the sensation of your hand on your body.
Now remove your hands and continue to sense the movement.
Finally I'd like to invite you to feel your whole body,
Three dimensionally.
From the front,
Side,
Back,
Top and bottom.
Can you notice how your breath is moving in these different planes?
Can you feel the whole body breathe?
And does it feel in sync on the inhale and exhale?
Just notice.
Now slowly take a full breath in together.
Exhale.
Another time,
Big inhale through the nose and a long exhale the same way.
And now one final breath in together.
Take a satisfying exhale out.
Slowly move through your toes,
Your fingers,
Perhaps gently moving the head from side to side.
Lifting the corners of your mouth into a smile and slowly blink open your eyes.
Now take a full breath in through your nose and a long exhale out.
