Hello and welcome.
I'm Mike.
I teach meditation and yoga with the Veterans Yoga Project and Karuna Community Minnesota.
Today we're going to do a basic breath awareness meditation with a gratitude practice.
I really enjoy breath work because it's a tool that we hopefully always have at our disposal.
Whether we're trying to go to sleep,
Whether we want a nice meditation in the morning,
Or if we're dealing with something throughout our day that might need a conscious pause to keep us going.
So I invite you to find a comfortable position that can be standing up,
That can be seated,
That can be laying down.
Wherever you are,
Just see if you can get it just slightly more comfortable.
And from here I'll invite you to take a soft gaze.
You can keep your eyes open here,
But just let them be a little bit more relaxed.
And if you want you can also close your eyes.
And from this comfortable posture I invite you to actually notice the external.
Before we turn to within,
Just notice whatever sounds may be in the room.
Perhaps smells.
And just take a moment to notice.
And then from noticing the external,
I'll now invite you to notice the physical sensations of the body.
If you're laying down or seated,
Notice the points of contact where your body meets the floor or the chair.
If you're standing,
Notice the physical sensations of your feet on the ground.
And next I'll invite you to bring awareness to your breath.
And at this point don't try to change it.
Just notice it.
Notice the inhales.
Notice the exhales.
And when your thinking brain turns on,
That's what it does.
Just notice it.
Notice where your mind wants to go.
And gently,
And even with a sense of compassion,
Bring your awareness back to your breath.
And this may happen a hundred times even within a few minutes.
That's okay.
That's what your thinking brain does.
So see if you can continue to let your awareness be with your breath.
Next I invite you to bring,
Or rather breathe in through your nose and back out through your nose.
Notice the cool air coming in across the bridge of your nose.
Notice the warm air coming out.
And now I'll invite you to see if you can lengthen the inhale.
And in turn lengthen the exhale.
Notice the long slow deep inhale.
Long slow deep exhale.
Allowing your attention to be here.
To be with the breath.
Notice how it feels to feel your lungs expand.
Notice how it feels to send all the air out.
And then whenever the thoughts of whatever happened before this meditation start creeping in,
Or that endless to-do list of what may come after this meditation,
Those thoughts creep in,
That's perfectly normal.
That's what the brain is supposed to be doing.
But see if you can give it a break.
Letting yourself be here.
Letting your attention be with the breath.
Noticing those long slow inhales.
Noticing the long slow exhale.
Just allowing yourself to be here for the next 2,
3,
4,
10,
20 minutes.
However long you need.
Nowhere to be.
Nowhere to go.
If you want to continue with this breath practice,
For however long you need,
Just invite you to hit pause.
And keep doing what you're doing.
But if you're ready to move on with your day,
I'll invite you to take 2 or 3 more moments.
Noticing the inhales.
Noticing the exhales.
And as we close out our practice,
I invite you to think of someone or something that you are grateful for.
This can be a person,
Place,
Object.
Just bring him,
Her,
It into your awareness and your attention.
Let that be the space for your awareness.
And then we'll begin to wrap up.
Thank yourself for taking this time to pause.
The breath is a natural way for us to control our nervous system.
Help us with stress,
Sleep,
And other life practices.
So thank you for checking us out.
I'm Mike with the Veterans Yoga Project in Karuna Community,
Minnesota.
Wherever you're at,
I hope you have a nice rest of your day or evening.
Thanks for joining me.
