And sitting in a comfortable posture,
Keeping the back straight and upright with the head and the neck in alignment with the spine,
The shoulders are back and relaxed away from the ears.
Hands resting on the thighs or knees.
And bring the mind to the place where you are seated at the moment.
Be aware of the position of your body in space.
Be aware of every corner of your body.
Fully aware of your whole body from head to toes,
Toes to head.
Allow the forehead to relax,
Relax the neck,
Shoulders and feel a wave of relaxation spreading through the whole body from the top of the head all the way down to the feet and from the feet all the way back up to the head.
The whole body is completely relaxed.
Bring the awareness to the movement of the breath in the body.
Notice how the belly expands as you breathe in.
Notice how the belly contracts as you breathe out.
And as you observe the breath,
Allow the breath to slow down.
Allow the breath to relax.
Allow the breath to become very soft,
Smooth,
Silent and continuous without doing the breath,
But simply observing the breath as if you were observing somebody else breathing.
Observe each breath attentively from beginning till end,
Like a continuous cycle,
Uninterrupted breath awareness.
Making sure there is no movement on the chest,
No movement on the shoulders.
The whole body is completely still.
Notice how the belly expands and contracts with each breath.
And now bringing the awareness to your nostrils.
Try to feel the gentle touch of the breath at the nostrils,
Noticing the inflowing breath and the outflowing breath.
Be aware of the temperature of the breath,
The volume of the breath and the length of the breath as it moves in and out through the nostrils.
The body remains completely still,
The forehead is relaxed,
Neck and shoulders relaxed,
The whole body is completely relaxed.
To help keep the mind focused and present,
We can add a mental repetition to the breath awareness.
On the inhalation you can mentally repeat in,
On the exhalation you can mentally repeat out,
Inhaling in,
Exhaling out or you can use the Sanskrit mantra,
So Ham,
Inhaling in,
So,
Exhaling ham,
Inhaling so,
Exhaling ham.
Simply allow the mental repetition to follow the rhythm of the breath.
The breath is completely natural and effortless.
Inhale in,
So,
Exhale in ham.
Inhale in,
So,
Exhale in ham.
Inhale in and out through the nostrils.
Inhale in and out through the nostrils.
And do not worry if the mind gets distracted,
That's perfectly normal.
Whenever you notice the mind is distracted,
Gently bring the mind back to the breath awareness and the mental repetition,
Without fighting with the mind and without resisting the external distractions or the internal thoughts.
Inhale in,
So,
Inhale in ham.
Inhale in,
So,
Inhale in ham.
And now letting go of the mental repetition,
Letting go of the breath awareness and for a moment simply rest in silence,
Fully aware of your own presence within the boundaries of the physical body.
Just be with yourself for a moment,
Notice how you feel at this moment.
Become aware of the whole body,
Become aware of the space around your body,
Be aware of your surroundings and everything that is going on right at this moment.
Slowly bring the palms of the hands together in front of the heart and spread in the benefits of this practice in all directions for all beings.
May all beings be happy,
May all beings be free from illness,
May all see what's positive and beautiful and may all be free from suffering.
Om,
Peace,
Peace,
Peace.
Very slowly and very slowly you can open the eyes.
