So taking a moment,
Pausing in your life,
Becoming aware of the present moment and choosing to do this practice,
Practice of heart and breath,
Compassion and mindfulness.
So beginning by sitting comfortably and bringing your awareness to your breath and starting by taking three extra deep breaths and on the out breath letting go,
Letting go of any tension or busyness that might be with you at this point.
So breathing in and then on the out breath letting go.
And now allowing your breath to be natural,
Not trying to change it in any way,
Simply natural breathing,
Breathing in and breathing out.
And as you become aware of your breath,
Choosing a point in the body where you can feel the breath the most vividly,
Perhaps it's at the tip of the nostrils where the air flows in and out,
Maybe in the chest region,
The lungs expanding on the in breath and falling back on the out breath.
Maybe in the abdomen,
The belly,
Feeling your belly rising up and breathing.
Or perhaps awareness of the whole body,
Of the whole body breathing.
So choosing a focus for your awareness and resting your awareness at that place,
Tip of the nose,
The chest,
The belly,
The whole body and allowing yourself to follow the rhythm of the breath,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Not trying to change the breath in any way,
Just allowing it to be just as it is,
The natural rhythm of the breath.
And as you do this practice,
You may notice that your mind wanders away from the breath and that's okay.
It's what minds do.
They like to wander.
We've evolved to have wandering minds,
But the practice here is to notice when the mind wanders and to make a choice to bring it back,
Back to the breath and the present moment.
Our wandering minds can lead us down so,
So different paths into the past,
Reminiscing,
Remembering,
Ruminating or wandering into the future,
Worrying about things to come or planning or sometimes daydreaming fantasies.
So when your mind does wander,
Just noting what pulled it away and then let go,
Let go of what pulled the mind away and back to the breath in the body,
Breathing in and breathing out.
And as best you can,
Not judging yourself for having a wandering mind.
It's normal.
So bringing kindness to yourself when you notice that the mind wanders,
Not giving yourself a hard time and with great gentleness,
Bring the mind back,
Escort the mind back to the breath.
It's in that moment of noticing that the mind has wandered that you are aware,
Aware once more in the present moment.
It is a moment of mindfulness.
So when you become aware,
The here and now,
You've got the choice.
If you don't,
If you're not aware,
Then you've no choice and you're continuously caught up in these streams of thoughts.
So making the choice to come back to the breath,
Training your mind to come back,
Back to the present moment,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Just this breath and this breath and this breath.
And however many times the mind wanders,
The practice is the same.
Noting what pulled the mind away,
Choosing to let go and returning back to the breath,
Back to the present moment.
I'm doing this with great kindness,
Knowing that each time your mind wanders and you become aware,
You're training your mind,
Training your mind to be in the present moment,
Not judging the mind or yourself.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Just this one breath in this one moment,
A breath filled with kindness and gentleness.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Feeling the natural rhythm of the breath,
Air flowing in and air flowing out.
This natural soothing rhythm of the breath.
Feeling this natural rhythm in your body,
Feeling the kindness and warmth of the breath flowing through your body.
This natural soothing rhythm that's been with us since we were born.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And as you breathe in,
Feeling the breath,
The kindness and warmth flowing further and further through your body,
Spreading out from your lungs to your heart,
Gently beating inside your chest.
The warmth spreading further through your body and legs and arms and head.
This kindness,
This gentleness,
This love,
The healing breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And allowing yourself to feel in your body any subtle sensations of warmth and compassion and kindness that may be arising,
Especially in the heart area.
Allowing yourself to feel what you are feeling.
It's okay,
Whatever it is,
It's okay.
Allowing yourself to be who you are.
Just like this.
Namaste.
