Hello everybody and thank you for joining me for this short Anapanasati meditation practice today.
Anapanasati is a Buddhist practice,
Meaning mindfulness of breathing.
This is a practice that you can do standing,
Laying down or sitting.
The best thing you can do is pick an option that allows you to be able to fully concentrate on your inhale and exhale.
And for this practice,
Make sure that you are in a space that you feel comfortable in,
Somewhere that is restful,
Somewhere that's not too noisy or too strongly lit.
And to begin our practice,
We'll find a comfortable seat.
Or if you're laying down,
Begin to arrange your body in a way that allows you to feel complete comfort.
Now as we begin to find this seat,
Starting to make adjustments,
Things like rolling the shoulders up,
Down and back.
Find some slight movement through the hips,
So that could be a little rocking of the pelvis from side to side,
Maybe even forwards and backwards.
Take as many moments as you need to begin to settle into the beginning of this practice.
Now once you find your position,
We'll be here for about 10 minutes,
So just make sure that you are comfortable.
And slowly start to close the eyes down.
Take a deep inhale through the nose,
And begin to lengthen the spine as if someone is gently drawing you up from the crown of the head.
Open mouth exhale,
Audibly sigh everything out.
And allowing this to happen two more times,
An inhalation through the nose,
Begin to lengthen through the back line of the body.
Open mouth exhale,
Sighing everything out.
Once more just like this.
Inhalation through the nose,
Lengthening through the back line of the body,
Long slow audible exhale out through the mouth.
Begin by mindfully observing the way the breath moves through the body.
As Alan Watts states,
In Anapanasati we move from passive breathing,
The idea that breathing is happening but we are not the ones doing it,
To active breathing,
The awareness that we are creating the breath.
Before this practice it may help to say to yourself,
Inhale as you breathe in,
And exhale as you breathe out.
With each round of breath,
Noticing subtleties,
Noticing little nuances of the inhalation,
The way the belly inflates,
The way the chest lifts.
And you might observe the opposite as you breathe out,
The way the chest falls,
The way the belly falls back towards the spine.
Continuing to observe the breath.
Whether you are observing the feelings of the breath,
The belly and the chest lifting on the inhalation,
Or the chest and the belly falling on the exhalation.
Or whether you're choosing to label the breath,
Saying silently to yourself,
Inhale as you breathe in.
And saying silently,
Exhale as you breathe out.
And inhale as you breathe out.
If you've noticed the mind beginning to wander,
And the mind does like to wander,
Without chastising yourself,
Reacquaint yourself with the rhythms of the inhale and exhale,
Begin to gently guide yourself back.
Your awareness might rest on the feelings of the breath,
Noticing the way the belly inflates,
The chest lifts with every inhalation.
And noticing the way the chest falls and the belly falls with every exhalation.
Or you might be silently saying to yourself,
Inhale as you breathe in.
And silently saying,
Exhale as you breathe out.
And inhale as you breathe out.
And inhale as you breathe out.
And inhale as you breathe out.
And continuing to rest your awareness on the waves of incoming and outgoing breath.
And continuing to rest your awareness on the waves of incoming and outgoing breath.
And if the mind has begun to wander off again,
With as little judgement as possible,
Gently guide yourself back to the rhythms of the inhale and exhale.
Observing the way the belly rises,
The chest rises with every breath in.
And the way the chest falls and the belly falls with every breath out.
If you're labelling the breath,
Saying silently to yourself,
Inhale with every breath in.
And saying silently,
Exhale with every breath out.
And continuing to rest your awareness on the waves of incoming and outgoing breath.
And continuing to rest your awareness on the waves of incoming and outgoing breath.
And continuing to rest your awareness on the waves of incoming and outgoing breath.
And continuing to rest your awareness on the waves of incoming and outgoing breath.
If you've noticed the mind has begun to wander,
Just gently drawing your awareness back.
Anchoring back to the feelings of the inhalation.
And observing the feelings of the exhalation.
Drawing the breath inwards and upwards.
Full inhalation.
Soft,
Slow exhalation out through the mouth.
Beginning to release your awareness from the rhythms of the breath.
And allowing yourself to sit comfortably in silence to observe the effects of this short anapanasati practice.
Observing any physical sensations.
Observing how you might feel inwardly.
Stay and observe for as long as you like.
And when you are ready,
Close this practice in a way that is meaningful and purposeful for you.
From my heart to your heart,
Thank you for sharing in this practice with me today.
Have a wonderful rest of your day.
