Hello and welcome.
My name is Manaj and today we're going to practice a focus meditation.
So there are many ways we can practice focusing in meditation practice.
Today's practice will involve counting and it will focus on paying very special attention to a certain gap that occurs after your out-breath.
Now this gap happens between the out-breath and the in-breath and what the aim of this practice is hoping to cultivate is an awareness of that gap.
We'll begin to count from one up to ten,
Specifically after the out-breath and as we get to ten we'll start all the way back at one.
I'll guide you into this practice and I'll guide you out but throughout I'll offer periods of silence so hopefully you can deepen this level of focus.
This practice is best done sitting down.
You can sit on a couch,
A chair or on a cushion with your spine relatively upright,
Your body in a comfortable but alert position with your eyes closed or your eyes open.
Begin by taking a slow deep breath into the body.
Open your mouth,
Take a slow deep breath out.
Do that again,
Slow deep breath in.
Opening mouth,
Slow deep breath out.
Beginning to settle the body into the position you're in.
Knowing the softness of your body to settle,
The softness of your minds to relax.
As always notice what's present in this moment by becoming aware of sounds,
Sounds that are occurring in the distance,
Sounds that are occurring closer to you.
Notice that sounds are simply present.
Then begin to bring your awareness to your body.
Knowing that you have a body and this body is now breathing.
You might notice the breath in your nose,
Your chest,
Your stomach or maybe even the whole body.
See if you can settle on one area to focus your breath on.
And notice the breath naturally without any force coming in and out through this area.
As you do this gently begin to count that space after the exhale,
Before the inhale,
The little gap.
Beginning at one and then after your next exhale two.
Effortlessly counting up to ten before starting again.
Allow your mind to be relaxed,
Be focused and let go of any pressure to perform or to be perfect.
The mind will wander away like it's meant to but the measure of your focus is recognising Allow your focus to return to that gap after the out-breath.
Take a moment to let go of the practice,
Let go of any techniques.
Notice how the body feels.
Without any judgment or story take a deeper breath into the whole body.
Open the mouth,
Exhale and let it go.
Whenever you are ready,
In your own time,
You can gently begin to return your awareness back into your room.
And eventually opening your eyes.
Thank you for sitting with me today.
I hope this practice enables you to cultivate more focus throughout the rest of your day.
Thank you for sitting with me and I'll see you next time.
