Find a nice tall spine,
Soft shoulders falling away from the ears.
Your hands can rest wherever they end up.
Maybe you'd like them resting in your lap or on your thighs or knees,
Palms face up or palms face down,
Whatever feels best for you.
There are no rules here.
We want you to be completely comfortable as you begin to go inward to find the movement of the breath within the stillness of the body.
Watching that breath as it moves from the belly through the chest,
Through the throat,
And in and out through the nose or through the mouth.
Not thinking about if you're doing it right or wrong or what I'm doing or what everybody else is doing at home.
Just noticing what feels right for you right here.
Not noticing the length,
The depth of your inhales and exhales and releasing any judgment on whether they're too shallow,
Too short,
Too chaotic.
Just settling in with your natural rhythm tonight.
And that's what we're going to stick with here.
You don't have to deepen the inhales or lengthen the exhales.
You're just going to focus on your rhythm,
Your breath.
And to help focus on your breath,
Beginning to count the breaths.
As you inhale,
Counting one,
Exhale two,
Inhale three,
Exhale four,
Inhale five,
Exhale six,
Inhale seven,
Exhale eight,
Inhale nine,
Exhale ten.
And starting back at one,
Moving at your own pace,
Counting the inhales and the exhales.
Your mind wanders,
Coming back to that breath.
If you lose count,
Starting right back at one.
Taking some time here to count the breaths at your own pace.
Whenever that mind wanders,
You become distracted,
Coming right back to that count.
You may begin to notice the breaths getting a little bit deeper,
Getting a little bit smoother,
Without you intentionally doing so.
Just rolling with it,
Continuing to count.
And now wherever you are at,
Finding some length,
Some depth in your breaths,
Extending them out just a little bit more.
You can either continue to count,
Or you can label your inhales and exhales along with me.
As you inhale,
Saying to yourself,
I breathe in love.
And as you exhale,
Saying to yourself,
I breathe out fear.
I breathe in love.
I breathe out fear.
I breathe in love.
I breathe out fear.
I breathe in love.
I breathe out fear.
I breathe in love.
I breathe out fear.
And slowly beginning to release control of the breath,
Allowing the mind to wander,
Finding some gentle movements in your fingers and your wrists,
Drawing the hands together at heart center,
Maybe rubbing the palms together,
Creating a little bit of heat,
Creating prana,
Life force.
Slowly beginning to flutter the eyes open,
Coming back to this space.
Thank you so much for joining me in this short meditation tonight.
I hope you enjoyed it.
