Welcome to your breath and thought awareness meditation.
Go ahead and find a comfortable seat,
Sitting up nice and tall.
When you're ready,
Close down your eyes,
Relax your shoulders down your back,
And begin to notice your breath.
Feel the flow of breath coming in through your nostrils,
Flowing down the back of your throat and filling up your lungs all the way.
Feel the flow of breath leaving your lungs,
Flowing up the back of your throat and out of your nose.
Tracing the cool breath flowing in through your nose,
Filling up your lungs,
And tracing the warmer breath leaving your lungs and flowing out of your nose.
Just take a few rounds of breath like that on your own,
Using this breath to bring you fully present in this moment,
Right here,
Right now,
In your body.
You're going to breathe out all the way,
Empty your lungs completely,
And then hold empty for a count of three,
Two,
One.
On your inhale,
Just fill up your belly,
Fill your belly like a big balloon,
Feel it press out,
And then hold the breath in at the top for that count of three,
Two,
One.
Breathing out and just allowing the belly to soften,
Exhaling completely,
And then holding for that three count,
Three,
Two,
One.
Now adding on,
Inhale into your belly,
And then your ribs,
And feel your ribs expand out in all four directions,
Holding at the top for that count of three,
Two,
One,
And then exhaling,
Softening first from your ribs,
And then your belly,
And holding empty for three,
Two,
One.
Adding on,
Inhale belly,
And then your ribs,
And then your heart space.
Feel your heart expand and hold the breath in for three,
Two,
One.
Exhale now first from your heart,
And then your ribs,
And then your belly,
And hold empty for three,
Two,
One.
So you're going to continue that three part breath,
Inhaling belly,
Ribs,
And then heart,
Holding at the top,
Exhaling heart,
Ribs,
And then belly,
Holding at the bottom.
Do that a few more times on your own.
Feeling that full expansion with your breath in,
And that full contraction with your breath out.
Turning on the parasympathetic nervous system,
And coming into that rest and digest,
Calm,
And now as you inhale,
I want you to just repeat in your head,
Inhale.
As you exhale in your head,
Just repeat,
Exhale.
Just saying to yourself,
Inhale as you breathe in,
And exhale as you breathe out.
Keep your full focus and awareness on your inhales and exhales.
And as you do so,
Occasionally thoughts might pop into your mind that have to do with something else,
Something outside of this moment.
So when they do,
I want you to first just notice the thought,
Notice that your mind has wandered.
And without any judgment,
Just give the thought a label.
It can be to-do list,
Or this person,
Or that specific thing.
Just give it a label,
And then imagine attaching that thought to the string of a balloon,
And then releasing the balloon and watching that balloon float up into the sky,
All the way up into space and out of sight.
Every time a thought pops into your mind,
Without judgment,
Notice it,
Label it,
And then attach it to the balloon and release it.
And then come back to focusing on your inhales and your exhales.
And we'll be here for a couple of minutes.
Just continue to repeat that practice.
Take a few more breaths.
Focusing on your inhales and exhales.
Completing that thought awareness process whenever a thought comes in that is outside of this present moment right here,
Right now.
Then slowly begin to bring your awareness back to your body.
Just feel your body,
Feel the breath expanding your lungs.
Feel the lungs contract as you release the breath.
Feel the base of your spine on the ground beneath you.
Feeling the physical sensation of the base of your spine on the earth.
Notice your heartbeat,
The temperature of the air on your skin.
And when you're ready,
Take your time.
Slowly begin to come back and blink your eyes open.
And then go ahead and pull out your journal and just write down any thoughts that came up for you and allow them to release.
Namaste.
