Start by taking a moment to relax your body.
Soften any unnecessary tension in your belly and shoulders and find a posture that feels relaxed and alert.
Now either look downwards or close your eyes and rest your hands in an easy effortless way.
Take a few moments to scan your awareness through your sensations,
The sensations of your body and wherever possible soften and release obvious areas of physical tension.
We'll begin the practice of coming back to our breath by establishing your home base.
While there are many possible anchors to hold your attention such as sound or sensations throughout your body,
The most common and the one that you'll be exploring today is your own breath.
So please naturally and simply notice where your breath is easiest to detect and where your breath also feels pleasant or at least neutral.
You might pay attention to how your breath feels as it flows in and out of your nose.
You might feel the touch of your breath around your nostrils or your upper lip or perhaps you feel the movement of your chest.
Maybe it's the rising and falling of your abdomen or perhaps you feel your whole body like a balloon expanding with your in-breath and deflating with your out-breath.
Just take some moments to bring your attention to the sensations of breathing in to one of those or all of those areas in a relaxed attentiveness.
There's no need to control your breath.
Rather since you are receiving the breath much like you listen to sound with a relaxed awareness,
Discover what the breath is really like as a changing experience of sensations.
This life breath is your home base,
A place to rest and be aware.
So in these next moments,
Simply relax as your breath comes in,
Notice what it's like and relax with your exhale.
Let go.
And again,
Notice the immediate experience of sensations.
Notice where your attention is.
You might find that your mind has drifted into thoughts and this is completely natural.
The mind is conditioned to move off into thinking about the future or the past or making judgments of sounds that you may be hearing.
When you become aware of thinking,
You might use a soft and friendly mental note.
Maybe just say to yourself,
Thinking,
Thinking and then pause and re-relax.
Open your attention again.
Become aware of the sounds around you.
Re-relax your body.
Feel the aliveness in your body.
Relax your sensations around your heart.
Release any unnecessary tension.
Without any judgment,
Just allow yourself to genuinely return again into the inflow and outflow of your own breath.
Let your breath be an immediate friend,
A home base that reconnects you with your own presence.
That is really your journey onto a dream.
Continue to rest with your breath,
To relax with your breath,
With the intention of noticing that when you can,
When you drift off into thought,
When you discover that your mind has drifted,
Bring yourself back to your home base.
Know that your thoughts are not your enemy,
You don't have to clear your mind of thoughts,
You're just redeveloping the capacity to recognize when thoughts are happening.
Don't get lost in your storyline,
Don't judge your thoughts or yourself.
Each time you notice that you've drifted,
It's an opportunity to strengthen your muscle of remembering again,
Of arriving back to the here and now,
Gently coming back into living presence.
As you notice your mind getting quieter,
You might sense the peace that arises when you relax even more and immerse your entire awareness into the inflow and the outflow of your breath.
Breathing in just knowing that you're breathing in.
Breathing out just knowing that you're breathing out.
Stay here for as long as you wish,
Or complete the practice by taking a deep cleansing breath in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Give yourself gratitude for taking the time to fall into your breath.
Toodels.
