Hi,
This is Martina.
Welcome to this guided practice of mindfulness with the body and the breath.
The intention of this practice is to calm and collect the mind,
Developing greater focus and concentration.
You can do this practice sitting on a chair,
Or if you prefer,
You can use a meditation cushion.
Let's start.
So finding your way into your meditation posture.
Let your eyes close gently,
Or if it's not comfortable for you,
You can keep them open,
Looking downward towards the floor.
Try to sit comfortably,
Upright,
With your back straight,
But without being rigid,
In a way that will allow you to be relaxed and awake at the same time.
The body expresses the balance we want to have in our mind,
Being at ease,
Relaxed,
But alert,
Sensitive to our experience.
And let's start by establishing an intention for this practice together.
For example,
An intention of friendliness,
Curiosity and kindness.
Of welcoming our experience with openness,
And without any judgment.
And with that intention in mind,
Settling into our body.
Bringing attention to the whole of your body sitting here.
Feeling the weight of the body on the chair or the cushion.
The sensations of contact of your buttocks with the chair,
The feet with the floor.
And let yourself rest on the chair completely.
Be supported by it.
Releasing and relaxing any obvious tension in your body.
Now take a moment to notice how your face feels right now.
And notice any obvious areas of tension.
Maybe around the eyes,
Or the forehead.
Around your mouth,
Or the jaw.
Just feeling in and seeing if it is possible to relax them right now.
To soften.
Just as much as you can in this moment.
And if all the tension doesn't go away,
That's fine too.
Not a problem at all.
Just notice it.
Allow it.
So feeling into your face.
Relaxing your face,
The throat,
The neck.
Releasing the shoulders.
Allowing your arms to drop down,
Heavy.
Relaxing the chest.
And allowing the belly to be soft.
And for a few moments,
Just simply sitting here.
Feeling into our bodies.
Being sensitive to whatever is present.
Becoming aware of what it's like to be in the body.
In this body.
Just right now in this moment.
Aware of the body.
Not as a concept.
Not as a mental picture.
Not through memory,
But as a field of experience.
A field of ongoing,
Always changing sensations that are taking place right here and right now.
And sitting like this,
In contact with your body.
You might have noticed that your body is constantly breathing.
So let's now bring a gentle and curious attention to a place in your body where the sensations of your breath are very obvious to you.
Very clear.
Without changing anything.
Without interfering.
Let your attention rest there,
Receiving the sensations in your awareness.
So you may be noticing the breath at the tip of your nose.
Where the colder air enters the body.
And the warmer air leaves the body as you breathe out.
Or maybe you are feeling your chest expanding and relaxing.
Perhaps you can feel your belly rising and falling.
Or you can feel the entire body breathing.
Whatever it is.
Whatever sensations are the most obvious for you.
Just let your attention rest there.
Gently observing your body breathing.
Giving yourself permission to not do anything else right now.
There's nowhere else you have to be right now.
And everything else can wait.
For a few minutes all you have to do is to be with the sensations of your breath.
Tuning into the sensations.
Gently,
Delicately receiving them in your awareness.
And when you notice that your mind has wandered and maybe you got lost in thoughts or your attention was pulled by a different thing.
Know that this is completely normal.
It's fine.
No problem at all.
Just gently notice that.
And with patience and kindness invite your attention back to the sensations of the breath.
Distractions are very natural and a very important part of our practice.
So when you notice that your mind got pulled away by a sound,
A thought or anything else.
All you have to do is to notice that.
Let it be.
And very gently,
Very patiently bring your attention back to the breath.
See how does it feel to be breathing right now.
How do you know you're breathing?
What sensations in your body are letting you know right now that the body is breathing?
Observing our breath as if it was the first time in our life.
Very sensitive.
Receptive.
Curious.
Trying to follow the full cycle of the in-breath and the out-breath.
Where do you notice the sensations of your breath right now?
Letting the breath be exactly what it is right now.
Letting the breath be exactly what it is right now.
