Take your seat and grow tall for a moment in a way that's even rigid,
And then get really slouchy in the way that you're really good at.
And now come back to that middle place,
Not too tight,
Not too loose.
You can close your eyes if that feels okay.
And tune in right away to your breath.
Everything else can rest in the background,
Like it's happening in a different room,
But the foreground is your breath.
And come right into mindful deep breathing.
The ujjayi breath,
In and out through the nose,
One to two ratio,
Inhale to exhale,
And apply counting.
So breathing in and counting,
Breathing out going towards doubling that.
Stay right with the breath,
And right with the counting.
A hundred percent of your attention on the breathing and the feeling of the breath.
Breathing in and counting,
Breathing out going towards doubling.
Stay right there with it.
Three more breaths like that.
Let go of the counting,
Let go of the ujjayi breath,
And rest in the effects of that practice.
Notice that.
Begin to notice the moment the breath comes in through your nose,
Just your natural breath as it's happening.
You can notice the temperature of that.
And just follow the breath all the way to where it pauses,
And then turns around into an exhale,
And then Notice that.
Follow that all the way out.
You can notice the length of the breath,
The quality of it.
Is it bumpy?
Is it smooth?
Become so refined in your awareness of the breath that you start to see that not each breath is the same,
Like waves in the ocean.
Knowing if mindful deep breathing is too wide open,
I mean mindfulness of breath,
You come back to mindful deep breathing,
That more contained practice.
Use that as long as you need it.
Let go of it when you're ready and just be in the awareness of your natural breath as it's happening in your body.
When your mind drifts off,
And you wake up to that,
You notice you're not with your breath,
You're somewhere else.
Just linger there for a moment and be mindful of that place,
That space.
And then come back to the breath,
Front and center.
Noticing the moment it comes in through the nose,
Traveling with it,
Lingering in that space before it becomes an exhale,
And then traveling all the way down the exhale to the other space before it becomes an inhale.
And see if you could do that whole cycle and then link another whole cycle,
Being right with it,
Your awareness,
Right with the feeling of the breath.
And if you drift off,
No problem.
You just begin again.
It's like we're building the muscle of our attention,
Our awareness.
The drifting off and coming back is like a bicep curl,
Strengthening this quality of presence.
As we come towards the end of this seated,
Formal meditation,
See if you can be fully present,
Fully,
Totally,
Enwrapped,
Immersed with the experience of presence,
Your breath,
Your body.
Total nowness right here.
As soon as you're ready,
You can let your eyes open if they're closed.
We're still in the meditation,
So just let the light in,
The shapes in.
Blinking the eyes wide open and as we release out of this,
Bringing this into the very next moment.
