For the first couple of minutes of this exercise,
I encourage you to do nice,
Deep,
Slow breathing through the nose into the belly and out from the mouth.
And with every out-breath,
Aim for the out-breath to be longer than the in-breath,
And for your body to be relaxing with every out-breath and resting deeply.
Bring full awareness to the sensation of each in and each out-breath,
Following its movement closely,
Really allowing yourself to take in deep,
Nourishing breaths on that in-breath and inviting anything that doesn't need to be held onto to be released on that nice,
Long out-breath.
We're really nourishing every cell of the body,
Flooding it with oxygen,
Flooding it with energy,
And clearing out anything inside of us that doesn't need to be held onto anymore.
And whatever breath you're up to now,
I encourage you to finish that breath on the out-breath,
And once the last out-breath is complete,
To allow your breathing to just come to its own natural rhythm and state,
And to switch from this deep breathing exercise into a mindfulness of breathing exercise.
So now our task is to be fully present to the physical sensation of the breath at its natural pace.
Notice how you feel in your body as you're breathing.
Notice the way the breath feels differently as it comes through the nose.
You might notice some sensation in your throat.
You might notice sensation in your chest or your belly.
And your job here is to really immerse yourself in the sensation,
And any time your mind wanders to something other than that sensation,
We simply acknowledge that it's wandered away without any guilt or shame,
Just knowing that that's what the mind does.
But bringing it back again and again to that center of deep presence to the sensation of our natural rhythm of breathing,
Reminding ourselves that sensation is always in the present moment.
So our breath is this perfect anchor we can use to attune ourselves to the present moment.
And in a moment,
This meditation is going to finish.
And before we finish,
I want to invite you to reflect on two things to take with you out into your day from this point on.
The first one is,
What is it that I need to let go of in order to move forward peacefully and effectively into the next part of my day?
What do I need to let go of?
And secondly,
What intention do I invite into this next part of my day?
