Welcome.
This is a short practice to focus on mindfulness of breathing.
Start with coming into a comfortable position that is alert and upright and yet also not overly stiff.
Start with noticing the sounds that you can hear right now including the sound of my voice,
Other sounds that might be occurring in the environment you're in right now,
As well as any faraway sounds,
Traffic and other outside sounds.
Notice any urges to quickly label the sounds or even judge the sounds.
Let the sound simply land in the ears taking in the volume and the tone.
And now see if the ears can pick up any sound related to breathing.
Letting the attention now shift to awareness of the breath.
Where in the body is the breath experienced?
Tuning into the abdomen,
The belly area,
Noticing the rising and falling of the belly with the breath,
The belly button going out on the inhale and then coming in closer towards the spine on the exhale,
The breath coming and going in and out like a wave.
Can the breath be felt around the area of the rib cage,
The chest,
The shoulders,
The nostrils with the breath going in and out.
Tuning into the breath is a way that we can connect with the present moment and refocus the mind on something that's happening in the body all the time.
The breath is always here.
When we tune into the breath,
There's no pressure to change anything about it.
We can allow the breath to be as it is right now and apply this curious mind to the observations of the breath.
What is the breath like right now?
Is it shallow or deep,
Quick or slow or maybe just seeming kind of average,
Normal?
And if thoughts are going,
That's okay.
We can gently guide the mind back to observing the breath as a way to connect with this present moment,
Remembering that as long as we're breathing,
There's a lot more that's right with us than wrong with us.
And at any time,
We can tune into the breath to focus into this present moment as an anchor to this present moment experience.
Taking a moment to close the practice,
Connecting with the breath once again.
And if the eyes have been closed,
Go ahead and open them to look at the space around you and tuning in to what you hear once again,
Including the sound of my voice.
And here we have the sound of the bell to mark the end of our practice.
May you be well.
