Meditating with the breath.
Many meditation traditions are centered on or focused on or even obsessed with the breath and watch the breath stay with the breath come back to the breath over and over again if you lose your way bring yourself back again and focus.
In our style of instinctive meditation this isn't the way that we be with our breath.
Instead we take an attitude of wonder of what it is to breathe.
We're inquisitive about or in awe of the miracle occurring when we breathe.
Take a moment now and simply inquire what interests me in the breath?
This connection between myself and the world around me.
Which part of the cycle of exhalation,
Emptiness,
Inhalation,
Resting in fullness draws your attention.
Is it the sensation of air coming in and out of the nostrils or the thrill of the lungs feeling full at the top of the inhalation?
Allow your naturally inquisitive mind to wonder what is delightful about this process.
This process of breathing.
How is it that perhaps 22,
000 times a day we perform this life sustaining,
This life giving act as a mechanical process without conscious awareness?
Let alone joy.
Every breath is an expression of rhythm,
Part of the play of opposites.
There is a movement in and out.
There may be a movement of energy down as you inhale and the return of that energy up and outward as you exhale.
This giving and receiving breath,
The sharing of life with the entire planet.
Whether you're inside or outside bring an awareness into the earth and the sky.
As you breathe out maybe allow your hands to rise up along the front of your body letting your head tilt back slightly,
Your face rising as you give your breath back out to the to the planet to the world.
As you inhale you might allow your hands to float down,
Receiving.
Let your head tilt slightly forward perhaps.
Feel this bowing of thanks to the planet around you sustaining you as you receive this breath.
Let's try this cycle a couple of times as we exhale the hands rise up giving ourselves,
Giving our breath,
Giving our life to the planet,
Giving our love through our exhalation and as we inhale feel that we are receiving,
Receiving from the planet now but we're receiving from all of life that has gone before us,
That has created the atmosphere for us to drink in.
Feel your natural rhythm leading your breath.
This is not force,
It's not contrived,
Your own life force is leading the way totally naturally.
And as we have a curiosity and tender awareness about our breath,
What sensations are arising,
What emotions and thoughts are being brought forward,
Are being brought up out of our subconscious.
Welcome them all.
Every breath renews you,
Charges you with life.
It's a connection with the planet.
You're renewed moment to moment.
Continue to tenderly welcome all thoughts,
All emotions,
All sensations without judgment.
To try to block any of these is to suppress some aspect of yourself,
Your life force that needs your tender acceptance and acknowledgement now.
And when you remember that you're meditating again,
That you wonder what you're doing,
You can choose to find that joyful interest in the breath again.
When we practice a full sensory awareness of our breathing,
When we practice finding what it is that we love about breath,
We can indulge in this anytime you have a few seconds or a minute.
At the stop lights,
Waiting for a train,
Before the next meeting or phone call.
That simple appreciation of a breath or two can provide that little kickstart and reconnection with yourself and your life and your life force.
As you transition,
As you reconnect with the world around you,
Feeling your body again,
Noticing the environment that you are in.
Remember,
Anytime you can simply take a breath with curiosity,
With wonder,
You can give yourself a little reset,
A restart and maybe,
Just maybe the world might look just a little bit brighter right there,
Right then.
