And so as you settle into this comfortable seated position,
If you're sitting tall,
Maybe you have the back of the chair a little bit away from your back just to allow for a nice upright posture.
If you happen to be laying on the floor,
You might notice or allow the body to be supported by a cushion.
If you're chilly,
You can place a blanket on.
If you are seated,
You can place your feet flat on the floor,
Take whatever's in your hands out of your hands.
And allow your back to adopt a very kind of tall,
Dignified,
Comfortable position.
Without there being anything too rigid about it,
Just a position that signifies wakefulness,
Attention.
Allowing the eyes to soften or close completely.
And then just bring your awareness to the physical sensations,
The places where your body touches the floor or the surface beneath you.
All the points of pressure where your body makes that contact.
Spending a minute or so just exploring these sensations just as we do in the body scan.
Reminding yourself that there's no need for this to be any certain way.
We're just honing some awareness.
Now bring your awareness to the changing patterns of body sensations that you notice in the low abdomen.
Here the breath moves in and out of the body.
If you want to,
You can even place a hand on your low belly,
Just to become aware of the changing pattern where your hand makes contact with the belly.
And once you feel tuned into this physical sensation in this area,
You can allow the hand to rest.
And continue to focus on the sensations at the abdominal wall.
As the awareness just shines in on the area of the abdomen,
You might notice a slight stretching as the abdominal wall rises with each in-breath.
And then a gentle deflation as it falls with each out-breath.
As best you can,
You can just follow with your awareness these changing physical sensations through the entire breath cycle as it enters your body and all the way through as the breath leaves your body on the out-breath.
Perhaps here even noticing the small pause between one in-breath and the following out-breath.
And then that gap between the out-breath and the in-breath.
Reminding yourself that there's no need to try to control the breath or make it be any certain way.
Simply allow the breath to breathe itself.
And as best you can,
You can also invite in this attitude of allowing to the rest of the experience.
There's nothing to fix.
There's no particular state to achieve.
And as best you can,
You can just allow the experience to be your experience.
Letting go of any need for it to be something other than what it is.
And eventually the mind wanders.
Moving the thoughts,
Planning,
Daydreams,
Drifting,
Whatever it is.
This is perfectly okay.
This is simply just what our minds do.
It's not a mistake or a failure.
And when you do notice that you are no longer focused in on the breath,
Maybe even gently congratulate yourself.
You've come back and are once more aware of this experience.
Gently escorting the awareness back to the focus of the changing patterns of the sensation in the low belly.
Paying attention to this ongoing in and out breathing.
Perhaps even inviting in a quality of kindness.
Maybe even seeing these repeated wanderings of the mind as opportunities.
An opportunity to cultivate patience or gentle curiosity to the experience of being in this moment.
From here you can dip your chin down towards your chest and just blink the eyes open.
Letting go of the awareness of the breath and just taking in all that you see and lift your head up.
So that was called an awareness on breath meditation.
Thank you for practicing with me.
