Hi there,
My name is Margretta and I'm going to guide you through a brief mindfulness practice where we'll be focusing on our breath and responding to it in a particular way.
The intention here is to learn and practice to respond to our mental activity using a practice called noting.
And so before we begin,
I'm going to invite you to find a comfortable position.
That you can hold for a few minutes,
And maybe that's all.
Sitting on a couch or on a chair,
Maybe it's lying down.
But wherever you are.
If you can just start to bring your attention into your body.
Really notice where your body is in space and allow all parts of yourself to be here.
And as we start to settle into this practice,
I'm going to invite you to just start to notice where you feel your breath.
So you might notice a slight rising and falling in your shoulders.
The expansion and contraction of your lungs.
Your belly going in and out.
Or perhaps you notice oxygen passing through your nostrils.
Cool on the way in and warm on the way out.
And we're just going to allow our attention to be on our breath wherever we feel it most significantly.
Noticing that natural rhythm.
You don't have to do anything differently.
You don't have to take deep breaths.
We're just starting to notice.
How our body is breathing.
And so as we begin to bring our attention into the present,
Into our body,
On our breath,
Inevitably,
There will be distractions,
Whether it's thoughts or sounds.
And what I'm going to encourage you to do is when you notice a thought or a sound,
To label it in your mind as.
Either distraction or sound or thought.
And once you label it,
Gently bring your attention back into your body.
Into your breath.
And we're going to practice allowing our breath to really anchor us in the present.
And when our thoughts happen.
When we get distracted,
We're just gonna notice that that's happening and gently.
Bringing our attention back to our breath after using one of those noting words.
Distraction.
Or thought or sound.
Sometimes labeling it allows us to move past it and let go of it a little more easily.
And see if you can allow yourself to really settle in.
For these next few minutes.
Knowing that nobody needs anything from you.
Your only job is to notice and to be.
And again,
Inevitably there will be distractions and we can just label them as such.
And gently bring her attention.
Back to our breath.
And every time we're distracted and we use that noting practice.
And gently bring your attention back to our breath.
We're strengthening the neurocircuitry in our brain.
To allow us to be more present.
More often.
So it's definitely not a problem to be distracted.
We're just allowing our brain another opportunity.
To notice we're distracted.
And redirect our attention in our bodies.
Again,
Noticing that natural rhythm that happens.
With our breath.
And again,
Looking at every opportunity,
Every distraction as an opportunity.
To redirect our attention.
And to create.
And reinforce that neural pathway.
And sometimes it feels helpful to label our breath as we're breathing to keep ourselves focused on our breath.
So you can play with that and see if that feels helpful.
You can label your breath breathing in or breathing out as you breathe.
And if that feels like an additional distraction,
Let it go.
And if it feels helpful to allow your attention to be on your breath.
Then certainly I would encourage you to use that.
I'm going to stop talking and allow you another 30 or 40 seconds to just be with your breath.
And practice noting.
And when I ring the bell,
That will signal the end of our practice.
I'll gently ring the bell.
Thank you for joining me.
Have a wonderful day.
