Hello,
This is Meg Ranaldi of Body Centered Inquiry and welcome to the 7 Breaths Body Centered Meditation.
For this session,
You'll be on the floor on a carpeted or padded surface or on a bed.
Make sure you have a rolled up bath towel or yoga blanket for underneath your head.
And have a bolster or roller or rolled up blankets for underneath your knees for support for your low back.
Remove your glasses,
Jewelry belt and any tight fitting clothing,
Especially if you have a tight fitting bra.
And when you're ready and you've gathered your props,
Please come to lie on your back.
Our breath is an important resource.
It's always with us.
Tuning into breath gives us clues,
Immediate clues to our state of mind.
The mind rides on the breath.
It's an intimate relationship between our breathing and our state of mind.
Begin to settle in,
Adjust your props and notice your connection to the ground.
Whether you're on the bed or on the floor,
You're on the ground.
Notice your quality of mind.
Notice the texture of your mind.
It's an interesting question.
It's not something we notice very often because we're accustomed to looking at the world and our experience through a particular lens.
Throughout this session,
I'll be inviting you to bring your awareness back to your breath,
The ground beneath you,
Your present experience and the quality of your mind.
In some Buddhist traditions,
This is known as placing the mind.
We're always placing our mind somewhere.
The question is,
Where are we placing it?
Take another moment to be aware of the support that's always beneath you,
The space around you,
The quality of your breath.
You can have your eyes open in a soft gaze or closed.
Now bring both of your hands to rest on your abdomen,
Somewhere between your navel and your pubic bone.
Allow the arms to rest comfortably close to your body.
Allow your arms to be at ease.
And begin to follow the movement of your abdomen as it rises and falls easily with the movement of your breath.
Just notice the gentle rise and fall of your breathing happening all by itself.
Notice the vitality of the breath underneath your hands.
And when you're ready,
On an exhale,
Begin to make the SH sound,
The SH sound.
Let the in-breath happen easily.
And then on the out-breath,
Make the SH sound,
SH.
Breathe out with the SH sound,
SH.
Let it come to its natural stopping place without any force.
Once the sound becomes shaky,
It means there's no more breath available.
So stop where it seems natural for you to stop right now.
Let the breath complete itself all by itself,
And then begin the cycle again with the inhale,
And then the exhale,
Making that SH sound with each exhalation.
And do this for a round of seven breaths in your own time.
Be aware of your jaw,
Your face,
Your eyes,
And the support of the ground beneath you.
Continuing with this breath,
Breathing in and then breathing out with the SH sound of SH.
If you notice the SH sound getting shaky,
That's a signal that you're out of breath.
Allow the pause and begin again with the next inhale.
And pause the audio as you need to.
This is your time for your exploration.
Breathing in,
Breathing out with the SH sound.
Allow it to come to its natural completion,
And then begin again with the inhale.
There's nothing to force.
You find yourself struggling.
Let it all go and just come back to normal breathing.
Once you've completed the cycle of seven breaths,
Simply pause,
Notice your quality of mind,
Your connection to the support beneath you that's always there.
Now bring your hands to the outside of your middle to lower ribs when you're ready.
Your palms are on the ribs,
Not the soft tissue below them,
But actually on the sides of your ribs.
If that's challenging for you in the wrists or shoulders,
Then make soft fists and allow the knuckles of your hands to rest on the sides of your ribs.
Take time to find what's comfortable for you in this moment.
Allow your arms to rest comfortably,
Leaning against the ground.
Take your time.
When you're at ease,
You can be more sensitive to yourself.
When your hands are arranged in a way that's comfortable and easy for you,
Take a breath in and then breathe out and on that breath make the S sound,
The sound of ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
Again attend to when your breath is done,
The S sound becomes shaky.
Allow for the natural pause and let the next breath happen all by itself.
Be aware of the natural widening and narrowing of the ribcage.
We often think of our breath as going in and out or up and down,
But there's also a widening and narrowing of the ribcage.
And repeat this cycle for seven breaths in your own time,
Pausing the audio as you need to.
Breathing in,
Breathing out and making that S sound.
Take your time.
Be aware of the ground beneath you that's always there.
Can you remain easy in the face,
The jaw,
The throat,
The tongue,
The mouth,
Other than what you may need to do to make the S sound?
Part of what we're exploring here is expanding our breathing capacity.
When we can access greater width and breadth and depth in our breath,
That also lends itself to a spaciousness of mind.
And when you're ready,
Take a rest.
And when you're ready,
This time bring both of your hands to gently rest between the area of the collarbones and your breasts.
Find a way to rest your hands and arms in an easy way here between the space of the collarbones and your breasts.
And as you move through your next breath cycle,
On the next out breath,
Make the H sound,
H-A.
Note that chest breathing is more shallow than belly breathing.
It's just the nature of how our skeletons are organized.
So breathing in,
Breathing out,
The H sound.
Then there's a natural pause at the end of that breath.
The in breath arrives by itself and then the cycle begins again.
And again for seven breaths.
Take your time.
And remember that as the sound begins to fade or become shaky,
It means you're out of breath.
So respect those limits and begin again.
Ten breaths.
Be aware of your quality of mind,
The ground beneath you.
Keeping your eyes closed or in a soft gaze.
Love the audio as you need to.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
And the H sound.
And when you're ready,
Take a rest.
Allow your arms to be long by your sides.
Notice the quality of your breathing now.
Notice the quality of your mind and the ground that's always there to support you.
Notice if you can feel how your back moves as you breathe in and out,
How the connection between the back of your body and the ground beneath you is perhaps more alive.
There's nothing to do but observe whatever's present for you right now.
The more attuned we become to what's present,
The more present we become.
It's its own positive feedback loop.
Linger for as long as you'd like to.
And when you're ready,
Slowly roll to your side.
Slowly come up to sitting.
Again,
In your own good time,
Pause the audio as needed.
Notice the quality of your breath as you move into these different positions,
From your back to your side to sitting to standing.
And thank you.
That's the end of the session.
May you be at ease.
