Hello and welcome to the Zen Breath class and meditation.
Zen Breath is a type of breathwork meditation and if this is new to you,
Breathwork just means a form of active meditation using various breathing techniques to access and activate various parts of the brain,
Bringing awareness to the wholeness of mind and body and allowing for deeply stored stresses to be released.
It's deceptively simple.
We sit,
We count our breaths from one to ten,
And if we notice ourselves drift into thought,
We start over.
Sounds easy enough.
Where it gets tricky is the whole if we notice thoughts part.
I want to share a secret with you.
If you are alive and your brain is functioning,
There is no such thing as if.
There will be thoughts.
You will get distracted because you are alive and your brain is functioning.
A healthy brain will never stop having thoughts.
It literally exists for the purpose of having thoughts.
Now add to that the concept that as we go into meditation,
We are guiding our brains toward a state of deeper restorative rest and relaxation.
So just as we are feeling all meditative and relaxed,
Here comes a thought.
And it's not just any thought.
It's a worry about something in the future or a memory of something in the past.
Some form of stress replaying in your mind.
So all of a sudden you go from this place of confidence and relaxation to not only thinking the stressful thought,
But now you're also stressed because you're doing it all wrong and you're supposed to be relaxed and now you're the opposite of relaxed and ugh.
So here's a big truth for you before all of that happens.
Having a negative thought during meditation is not only normal and okay,
But it's actually a positive.
Negative emotions,
Or emotions that we judge to be negative,
Or memories bubbling up,
Are your brain's way of releasing stress.
By the time your brain has processed the thought as negative,
The thought process is actually in the past.
It's already happened as it's being let go.
Consider it a gift.
A reward for a job well done.
A giant round of applause from your brain in the form of uncovering something that may have been deeply stored away with no intent of releasing it and letting it go.
It's now one less burden that you're carrying,
So congratulations.
What it all means is that you're doing it exactly right.
This idea that meditation is all about being in love and light and peacefully taking us to this highly enlightened place is not an immediate reality.
Maybe after a lot of practice,
Sure,
But for most of us it's a form of mental exercise.
It's good for us and there's a never-ending list of reasons why,
But it's no walk in the park.
So take this as your permission to let yourself off the hook.
Before we even begin,
Know that your thoughts will come up and when they do,
I'll be giving you tools to help you return to the meditation.
Whatever your experience is,
Is exactly what it's intended to be.
So with that,
Let's get into our Zen breath practice.
Traditionally,
This practice was used by monks to increase concentration.
Today we're going to use it to build our ability to stay in the present moment.
The present moment is where we are right now,
Free from any regret from the past or worry about the future.
It's where joy,
Restoration and acceptance all exist at once,
Without conditions,
Purely because we exist.
So let's jump in.
Sit comfortably with your back upright.
You can be supported if you like.
Keeping your head free and let's draw the chin in and settle in and relax.
Face is relaxed.
Eyes can be closed or softly open.
If you choose to keep eyes open,
Allow yourself to keep a downward gaze softly,
About two to three feet in front of you.
And open your awareness to all of your five senses.
When we're meditating,
We want to come from a place of wholeness.
So we'll include any sights or sounds or sensations,
Inviting them to be exactly as they are.
Whatever external influences occur,
We'll allow them instead of resisting them.
And then we'll bring ourselves back to neutral by combining our breath with a simple counting repetition.
Begin with a deep inhale and envision this inhale first filling the chest and then filling the lungs and then continuing even deeper and filling the abdomen.
Allow your stomach to expand at the end of each inhale as if it is actually taking in air.
And as we're breathing,
We'll be counting at the same time.
One full inhale counts as one.
You can count yourself mentally and hear the number one repeated until your inhale is finished or you can draw out the word one in your mind as you inhale.
Whatever feels more comfortable.
Then as we fully and completely exhale,
We mentally count two.
We'll keep going in this pattern counting every inhale and exhale.
Breathe fully in and count one.
Breathe fully out and count two.
Fully inhale and count three.
Fully exhale and count four.
Continuing to count until we reach ten and then starting over again at one.
If at any point a thought or an observation happens,
We let it happen.
Let go of the count and start again at one on the next inhale.
Breathing in and counting.
Breathing out and counting.
Counting each breath up to ten.
And starting over.
If we count past ten,
It's totally okay.
We got lost in thought,
So we begin again.
Breathing and counting.
Our pace is increasing.
Our pace may speed up or slow down as we go and that's normal and okay.
Remembering to mentally hear the count without actually physically repeating it.
Breathing and counting.
If our minds are wandering or getting lost in thought,
It's totally normal.
Just start back at one.
Allowing yourself to breathe at your own pace.
And counting to follow the natural pace of your breathing.
And counting to follow the natural pace of your breathing.
Allowing the awareness of thoughts or sensations without judging them as positive or negative.
Breathing and counting.
Remembering to inhale fully into the abdomen.
Thoughts or sounds are totally okay.
Observations are okay.
If this happens,
Just begin counting again.
Breathing and counting.
If we count past ten,
It's okay.
Just come back to one.
And now keeping your eyes either closed or focused downward,
Let's let go of the count.
Continuing to breathe fully.
Just remaining in the flow without the count.
And now let's return to breathing normally.
And allow our minds to move away from the breathing.
Just allow ourselves to be.
And settle back into our space and bodies.
And in your own time,
Whenever you feel ready,
You can begin to blink your eyes open.
Thank you for your practice.
