To begin this practice,
Find a comfortable seat in an environment where you won't be disturbed and come into an upright posture that embodies wakefulness and dignity as well as allowing some softening I'd let it go of any unnecessary tension and if it feels okay for you closing your eyes or gazing at the ground in front of you and start to sense your body making contact with the ground beneath you and your hands making contact with your legs or clothing noticing the points of contact here and feeling the ground supporting you and fully come into this moment by letting go of whatever came before and whatever you might do after and allow yourself to fully arrive here in this present moment now moving your attention to your breath feeling the belly as it rises on the inhale and falls on the exhale allowing yourself to notice the entire duration of the breath and when the mind wanders away from the breath perhaps to a sensation in the body or a thought just noticing where the mind has gone without judgment and then letting that go for now in order to come back to the breath notice any qualities of the breath in this moment become curious about your breath is it fast or slow?
Deep or shallow?
Smooth or ragged?
Not needing to change or control the breath in any way,
Just noticing how it is bringing an attitude of curiosity,
Non-judgment in the beginner's mind to the act of breathing noticing where the mind is now if it's gotten caught up in thinking,
There's no need to judge it that's just what the mind does it's completely normal and thinking isn't a bad thing but in order to be fully present with the breath in this moment seeing if you can allow the thoughts to be in the background or see if they can be let go of and come back to the breath really experiencing the direct sensations of breathing rather than thinking about the breath the body naturally is breathing all day without you thinking about it and has been doing it since the moment you were born so just allowing yourself to be breathed fully awake and aware of the sensations of the breathing just riding the waves of the breath and notice if you feel like you're trying really hard to focus and be close to the breath and creating this sense of tension and seeing if you can let go and just notice all the sensations of breathing are available to you and your awareness and as we come to the end of this practice know that your breath is always there throughout the day for you to tune into and can serve as a trustworthy home base to help ground you in different moments
