Hello and welcome to Path to Peace Part 2.
These are going to be further instructions building on the first one.
If you haven't practiced Part 1,
Do go back and try that,
But you're welcome to try this now anyway.
As I mentioned before,
This is a series of meditation sessions designed to take you from the very basics into the life-changing depths of practice.
So we'll meditate for 8 minutes or so,
Possibly 10.
So come into your seated posture.
This can be on a chair,
With your feet flat on the floor,
Or you can sit in a cross-legged position on a cushion.
It doesn't matter.
All that matters is that you get comfortable right now.
Place your hands on your lap,
And allow the eyes to close gently.
Gently.
Have a feeling of being upright,
But not stiff.
So this comes from aligning the bones of the spine,
The vertebra.
So just experimenting now with that.
Trying to feel as if you're coming into skeletal alignment.
And then allow the muscles to soften,
So you can relax.
You're upright,
But relaxed.
And don't overthink this.
It takes time for your posture to mature.
Relax the top of your head,
Your forehead and eyes,
Cheeks and jaw,
Neck and shoulders.
Relax your arms,
Your hands,
Your chest,
Back and abdomen.
Feel the contact that the buttocks make with the seat you're resting on.
Relax the legs and feet.
And then just come to stillness for a moment.
And then bring your attention to the nose.
And feel the air coming in and out of the nose.
Try to feel this around the rims of the nostrils,
Either towards the tip of the nose,
Or at the back where the nose and upper lip meet.
And see where you can feel the subtle sensations the strongest.
And when you find that,
Tune in.
And root your attention to that one spot,
The place where it's most prominent,
So we don't follow the air in and out of the nose.
We stay rooted at this one spot where we can feel it strongest.
And feel the sensations of air crossing,
Passing back and forth over this point.
And to help us stay with the breath,
We can add counting.
So as we breathe in,
We say in the mind,
One.
As we breathe out,
One.
As we breathe in,
Two.
As we breathe out,
Two,
And so on.
Count in your own time,
All the way from one to ten.
If you reach ten,
Start again at one.
The likelihood is that you'll get to three or four,
And you'll forget which number you're on.
This is an indication that you've left the breath and gone into thinking.
When this happens,
Say in your mind,
Thinking,
Thinking.
And then return to the breath.
And don't be disheartened because you left the breath.
That's normal.
This is practice.
Your focus will strengthen over time.
In fact,
Each moment that you realize you left the breath is a moment of awakening,
A moment of coming into the present.
So celebrate that.
I'm going to leave you now for a minute or so to practice that.
Remember,
The counting isn't the meditation.
It's the feeling of the breath.
And now bringing the practice to a close.
Move the body slowly.
And whenever you're ready,
Open the eyes.
Do follow me and look out for the next session,
Which will be Path to Peace Part 3.
