Find a comfortable seat or lie down,
Soften or close your eyes,
And adjust yourself as needed and allow your body to settle.
Within the stillness of your body,
Gently guide your attention to the natural rhythm of your breath.
There's no need to change it,
Simply observe.
Notice the filling and emptying of your belly and chest,
The rise and fall of your shoulders,
The coolness and warmth of the air within your nasal passages.
Allow each breath cycle to be an invitation for you to ground into the present moment.
Breathe in fully and exhale completely,
Arriving into the here and into the now.
And with your next inhale,
Feel the energy rise in your body,
Like an ocean wave building with strength,
A steady yang-like force.
And as you exhale,
Notice the release.
Feel the breath flowing out,
Softening,
Letting go.
Inhale with energy,
And exhale with ease.
Inhale with vitality,
And exhale with surrender.
And take a few more breaths just like this,
Attuning to the natural rhythm.
The inhale expanding,
The exhale dissolving,
One active,
The other more passive.
Now shift your awareness from the movement of the breath to the stillness between each breath.
Notice the subtle pause at the top of the inhale,
The brief moment before release,
And again at the bottom of the exhale,
Before the next breath begins.
These pauses hold the yin quality of stillness,
Soft,
Effortless,
Perceptive.
And allow yourself to rest in this quiet space.
There is no need to do anything here.
Simply be.
Top of the inhale,
Notice the pause,
And again at the bottom of the exhale.
As you breathe in,
Acknowledge the yang,
The movement,
The energy.
As you pause,
Embrace the yin,
The stillness,
The calm.
Inhale with life,
Exhale with surrender.
And allow yourself to rest in this delicate balance,
Movement and stillness,
Effort and ease.
The inhale,
The pause,
The exhale,
The pause.
And take one more deep breath in,
Feeling the fullness of your being.
And allow yourself to exhale completely,
Allowing the body to soften once more.
And let your awareness settle into the pause,
This quiet space of balance and rest.
And just as you breathe in and out,
You can find harmony in all things,
The doing and the being,
The expansion and the surrender,
The yang and the yin.
And take as much time as you need here,
Exploring this pause,
This stillness in between the breath.
And whenever you're ready,
I might invite some movement,
A wiggle perhaps,
To your fingers and toes,
Gently guiding yourself back into the space in which you sit.
And know that you can carry this sense of balance with you as you move off of your mat into the rest of your day.
