Hello and welcome.
Make sure you're sitting or lying comfortably and let your body relax.
When you're ready,
We'll begin.
Just take a breath in through your nose and sigh it out through your mouth as a gesture of arrival in a different space or place.
Just notice how your sitting bones feel in the chair.
If you're sitting on a chair or if you're kneeling or sitting on the floor,
Just becoming aware of the sensation,
Of the contact of your body to whatever surface you're sitting in.
Very quietly,
Shifting your focus to your breath.
Maybe noticing where the breath starts in your body.
This is going to be in different parts of the torso depending on the day,
Depending on how we're feeling,
What's come before,
Depending on how we breathe,
What our usual pattern of breath is.
Just noticing where each inhale begins in your body.
If you'd like to gently draw one hand to your belly.
This can be just below your rib cage and maybe start to notice how the belly presses out a little bit on the inhale and moves away from your hand towards your spine on the exhale and find yourself a tree in your imagination.
A tree that you can prop yourself up against,
That you can sit with your back pressing into the bark of this tree.
And notice how supported the back of your body feels as it presses against the trunk of this tree.
Maybe notice how the air feels around you,
Its temperature,
Its quality.
Maybe notice the color of the sky,
Whether there are clouds.
Maybe notice how strong and wise this tree is.
And eyes can be lower closed,
Whatever feels comfortable for you.
And just gently draw your attention to three unique qualities of this tree.
Just reflecting on some of the things that make your tree unique and special in the world,
Reflecting that there is no other tree like your tree anywhere else in the world.
Maybe even feeling a sense of awe for the uniqueness of this tree.
And with little or no effort,
Move your focus to three qualities that make you unique.
Maybe even sensing some awe as you reflect on those unique qualities in yourself.
And how would it feel to hold those qualities and very gently draw your focus back to your breath,
Breathing in and out through your nose in a gentle and unforced way.
And as you move into that space,
Breathing in and out through the nose,
Maybe your hand is still gently resting on your belly and holding your three unique qualities.
Breathing in and out for 20 cycles of breath.
Maybe counting one for the inhale,
Two for the exhale,
And three and four.
Counting in fact until you reach 40,
That will be your 20 rounds of breath.
I haven't left you.
I'm still here.
It takes a while to count those 40 breaths.
So once you've finished just pausing for a moment and still holding on to those three unique qualities,
Beginning another round of 40 breaths,
Symbolizing the 40 days that the Buddha sat under the tree to meditate.
Breathe in,
Breathe out,
Repeating this cycle 20 times.
So counting to 40,
One for the inhale,
Two for the exhale,
Three for the inhale,
Four for the exhale,
And so on until you reach 40.
Slowly,
Quietly,
Still under your tree,
Still holding your unique qualities.
Breathing in and out for 20,
20,
30,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
40,
50,
40,
40,
50,
50.
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