Allow the body to settle into a comfortable seated position.
If you're comfortable with your eyes closed,
Then allowing them to gently close or else looking softly down towards the floor.
Now bring your attention to your breath.
Feeling your in-breath and feeling your out-breath.
Following the natural flow of your breath.
And now narrow your attention in to your nostrils.
And now narrow your attention in to your nostrils.
Can you feel that your in-breath feels a bit cooler at your nostrils and your out-breath feels a bit warmer?
Really zooming into your nostrils and sensing the breath there.
One breath at a time.
And notice when your attention is being pulled away,
Maybe to thoughts about a topic that you often think about or to thoughts about something you rarely think about.
So notice when your mind is drifted into thoughts and then gently returning to the sensations of your breath at your nostrils.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Now shifting your attention to your chest.
Feel how your chest is moving as you're breathing.
How your ribcage is expanding as you're breathing in.
And relaxing as you're breathing out.
If you like,
You can also place one hand on your chest.
Feel how your hand moves with every breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
There's nothing else to do right now.
There's nothing to analyze,
Nothing to worry about,
Nothing to plan.
You can do all that when this meditation is over.
Right now simply observe how your chest is moving with each breath.
With this breath and this breath and this breath.
And now dropping your attention to your abdomen.
If you like you can place your hand onto your abdomen now.
Feel how your belly fills with air as you're breathing in and empties off air as you're breathing out.
Noticing all the sensations at your belly as you're breathing.
And if your attention wanders,
Maybe to sounds around you or to thoughts about yesterday,
Gently unhooking from wherever your mind has gone off to,
Come back to your breathing at your abdomen.
Resting your attention on your abdomen.
One breath at a time.
And then expanding your awareness to include your whole body.
One breath at a time.
And then expanding your awareness to include your whole breath.
Feeling the breath moving into your nostrils as you're breathing in,
Down your throat,
Into your chest and belly.
And how the air moves out from your body again as you're breathing out.
Holding your whole breath in your awareness.
And in mindfulness we're not trying to change the breath in any way.
We're simply noticing how the breath is in each moment.
So if your breath feels tense,
Then being curious about how a tense breath feels like.
And if your breath feels smooth,
Then being curious about how a smooth breath feels like.
So rather than wanting the breath to be a certain way,
Being curious about how it really is.
Moment by moment by moment.
This breath.
And this breath.
And this breath.
And also noticing the little gaps in between your breath.
That little moment in between your in-breath and your out-breath.
That little moment between your out-breath and your in-breath.
Really being aware of those tiny moments.
In-breath,
U-turn,
Out-breath and another U-turn.
Simply sitting here and observing your breath.
There's nothing else to do right now.
Before we end this meditation,
If you like,
You can congratulate yourself for spending some time training your attention and nurturing yourself.
And then very slowly opening your eyes and coming back.
