Hi there,
Welcome to this meditation session.
Today we're going to sit for approximately 15 minutes.
We're going to have a nice easy practice of just focusing on the breath.
To begin,
Find a comfortable seated position either sitting in a chair or on the floor on a cushion.
Make sure that whatever position you choose is one that you can keep for the entirety of the 15 minutes.
Make sure that if you are on the floor and you're sitting in a way that's cross-legged that you're not sitting on a part of yourself so that it falls asleep.
You want to be as comfortable as possible but still stay alert.
So if you're seated in a chair make sure that your back is straight,
Perhaps not against the back of the chair but holding it up on your own.
Your eyes can close or remain just gently open focused on a point right in front of you.
Hands can be in a mudra of your choosing if you have a particular one you like or they can sit on the tops of your thighs,
Palms up.
However you choose to sit just kind of settle in there letting any tension go,
Surveying the body,
Finding those little pieces of stress that we hold and maybe taking a breath in each part.
To begin our breath practice we'll start with a few deep breaths.
So take a long deep inhale and then as you exhale just let it all out,
Allowing yourself to relax just a little bit more with each of those exhales.
Just a couple more deep breaths.
And on this last one after your exhale just kind of settle into the natural breath.
Just letting your body adjust back to a simple and smooth inhale and exhale,
Not trying to control it.
Just allowing it to be what it is.
With your next inhalation just follow the breath as it moves up through the nose,
Down into the lungs,
Into the belly and as you exhale follow the breath all the way back up and out.
As you do this feel the ribs as they expand and contract,
Making space for all of that breath to come in,
Helping it to go out.
Feel the cool air as it starts to enter the nose and warms and as you exhale feel that warm air coming back out.
Stay here just following the path of the breath for a few moments,
Feeling all there is to feel here,
Familiarizing yourself with every part.
Okay.
Now we're going to shift our focus just to one point in that breath cycle.
So find a place that feels particularly interesting to you.
Maybe it is that expansion and contraction of the ribs.
Maybe it's the breath at the tip of the nose.
Maybe it's that place where you can feel the breath kind of flip back and forth between an inhale and an exhale,
Kind of at the top of the nose.
Whatever you find is drawing your attention,
Bring your focus there.
Okay.
If you find your focus drifting away from that part of the breath,
Maybe thoughts are coming,
Maybe your to-do list for the day is overwhelming,
Perhaps you're thinking of something that happened yesterday or will happen tomorrow.
It's okay.
Let those thoughts trail away as they will and bring your focus back to the breath.
And it doesn't matter how many times this cycle of letting go has to happen.
This is the practice.
So whatever happens,
Just bring that focus back to the breath.
Okay.
In meditation,
We learn to be with the breath so that we can learn to be with each moment of our life.
So be with this breath so you can be with this moment and this one and this one.
Okay.
The breath is your constant companion.
Tuning into it in these moments of meditation can help us tune into it outside of these moments so that the calm and space found in meditation can be found elsewhere in our lives also.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
As we sit through these last few moments together,
Keep coming back to the breath.
Keep making space for whatever is here and now.
Without judgment,
Without labeling,
Just allow yourself to be here with the breath.
With the breath.
Okay.
As our time together today ends,
Take a few moments to take a few more deep breaths.
Again,
Feeling the entirety of the inhale and the entirety of the exhale,
Just smooth and soft.
I hope that any calm or any space that you have found in this meditation today is something that you can take with you throughout the rest of your day.
Take care.
