Come to an easy seat,
Allowing your spine to lengthen and relaxing your shoulders down away from your ears.
Let your eyes close as you take a few deep sighs to begin.
Take a full belly inhale through your nose and exhale out of the mouth as loudly as you like.
Allow all the air to exit your body so that you can fill up again on your next breath.
Maintain that sighing,
Relaxed position of your face,
Mouth slightly open and jaw soft,
Allowing your cheeks and the place between your eyebrows to relax.
Take a few moments simply to observe yourself,
Just as you are right now.
The you who arrived for this breath awareness practice today.
Maybe your mind is particularly active or the body feels somewhat restless.
Or maybe you already feel some sense of peace in your mind and body and you're simply seeking to deepen that peaceful feeling through your breath.
Whatever you're feeling or thinking,
Avoid passing judgment.
Simply allow yourself to be just as you are.
Begin to sink the mind to the breath even more deeply,
Lengthening both your inhale and your exhale and choosing to breathe either completely through the nose or inhaling through the nose and exhaling out of the mouth.
Feel as your breath starts below your navel and then fills the entire belly and lungs with air.
Allow that breath to move into your ribs,
Your chest and your heart space.
Take a pause for one second,
Maybe two,
And then slowly exhale back down from your chest into your ribs all the way to your low belly.
At the bottom,
Pause again,
Using your pauses to encourage complete stillness in your body and your mind.
Breathing into your low belly,
Mid belly and chest,
Pausing.
Exhale from your chest,
Mid belly and low belly,
Pausing again.
Inhale low belly,
Mid belly,
Chest,
Pause.
Exhale chest,
Mid belly,
Low belly,
Letting all the air go,
Pausing again.
Continue this rhythm for about five more rounds of breath,
Seeking to lengthen your inhale,
Your exhale and maybe lengthening your pauses.
Maintaining this steadiness of breath,
Begin to visualize it moving throughout your entire body.
As you inhale,
Imagine your breath starting from the soles of your feet.
Feel it move up your legs and into your hips,
Through your torso and all the way to the crown of your head.
Full body inhale.
Take your pause and then exhale,
Feel as your breath and your energy move from the top of your head down your torso,
Through your hips,
Your legs,
All the way to the soles of your feet,
Pausing.
Full inhale,
Breath moves from your feet through your entire body,
All the way to the crown of your head,
Pause.
Full exhale,
Breath moves from the top of your head back down your body until it reaches the soles of your feet,
Then finding your pause.
Continue with this full body breath for about five more rounds.
Exhale,
Begin to breathe normally again and then take the next few moments to observe how your physical body feels,
Noticing any sensations moving through it.
Take a few more moments to observe your mind,
Your thoughts,
Avoiding any desire to pass judgment.
Really noticing how you feel,
How you're thinking,
And your current state of being after your breath awareness practice.
As you continue on with your day,
Know that you can return to your steady flow of breath anytime you need,
Taking a pause or two to reconnect to stillness,
To reconnect to yourself.
