When you are ready,
Closing the eyes,
Allowing your body to feel heavy and supported by the surface beneath you,
Bringing awareness to the sensations in your forehead.
Is there tension here?
Is there ease?
Can you invite any softening to the forehead?
Bringing awareness to your eyebrows and feeling into the sensations of your eyebrows,
The temples,
The eyes,
Behind the eyes,
Noticing sensations and inviting softness,
Inviting ease to the jaw,
To the tongue,
To the shoulders,
Noticing that you are breathing,
Feeling into the sensations of the body breathing,
Maybe deepening your breath to support you in feeling the sensations,
Maybe placing one hand on the chest and one hand on the belly to connect with any subtle sensations of the chest or belly rising or falling as the body breathes.
Now bringing awareness to the inhale,
So each time you reach the inhale in the journey of your breath,
Bring full focus and full awareness to the entire inhale,
As if you were studying it,
As if you were witnessing it for the first time,
Exploring the sensations,
Perhaps there's a visualization,
Perhaps there's a deeper knowing that this is an inhale right now,
Exploring this for a few rounds of breathing.
Now just as we have done for the inhale,
Exploring the transition between the inhale and the exhale,
So with each round of breath,
Noticing the very last moment of the inhale and the very first moment of the exhale.
Is there a pause between,
Is there space between the inhale and exhale?
Is there uninterrupted flow?
Is there a visual or is this a felt sense or is it a deep knowing?
Doing the same now with the exhale,
Each time in the journey of the breath you reach the exhale,
Bring in this focus,
This full awareness of the exhale,
Exploring it as if it's the first exhale you've ever witnessed.
Now bringing your full awareness to the very last moment of the exhale and the very first moment of the inhale,
Exploring this as if it has never been explored before.
Is there a pause between?
Is there uninterrupted flow?
Is there a deep knowing that this just happens,
That the exhale ends and the inhale begins?
Exploring this space for a few rounds of breathing and then opening up to the full journey of the breath,
Noticing whether there is any sense of controlling or grasping onto the breath,
Noticing if there is ease and restfulness in observing the breath.
Whatever your experience is right now,
Whether it is a need to control the breath or whether there is ease in observing and being witness to the breath,
Know that whatever your experience is,
Is okay and that there is power in being witness to your experience.
I now invite you to anchor into a single point in the journey of the breath,
A point where you can anchor your awareness as if placing a very special object or ornament onto a shelf,
Placing your awareness somewhere along the journey of your breath.
That might be at the base of the nostrils,
In feeling the air enter and leave the nostrils.
It might be at the back of the throat,
It might be at the rise or the fall of the chest or belly.
Choosing one place and anchoring your awareness there.
And so with each breath,
You are being reminded at this point that your body is breathing.
You can draw your focus and all of your awareness to this point,
Anchoring into the natural rhythm of your body breathing and breath can be a direct access to your awareness.
To connecting with self.
This is a place that you can return to,
To connect with that inner resource of calm and steadiness.
As we come to close the practice,
Bringing awareness to your surrounds,
The sensations of your body resting on the surface beneath you,
Welcoming and inviting movement to your body,
However little or big that movement might be.
Maybe beginning with wiggling the toes or the fingers,
Maybe a big body stretch where the arms go overhead and the feet push away from the torso.
When you are ready,
Opening your eyes.
Thank you for meditating with me.
