Hello and welcome.
Find yourself in a comfortable seated or lying position.
Let your body soften and relax and when you're ready we'll begin.
Cup your hands in front of you as though you were holding a cup of hot chocolate.
And even shift your gaze and look at this imaginary cup of hot chocolate.
And if you don't like hot chocolate,
Something hot and satisfying,
Something that you really enjoy drinking.
And as you breathe in through your nose,
Begin to become aware of the smell,
The scent of the drink.
And if it is hot chocolate that you're holding in front of you,
Just breathing in the richness of that cocoa scent.
Breathing it in,
Breathing out.
But the hot chocolate is too hot to drink so we have to cool it down.
So take a breath in through your nose and as you breathe out purse your lips and just blow on the hot liquid.
So you're cooling it down.
Breathe in,
Smell the hot chocolate.
Breathe out,
Cool it down.
Watch the steam rise from the drink.
Breathe in,
Purse your lips as you exhale and breathe out.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Continuing to cool down your hot chocolate with your pursed lips,
Exhale.
And if you get tired holding your hands in front of you,
You can release the visualisation,
Release holding your hands,
But keep your focus on breathing in through your nose,
Breathing in some kind of beautiful and delicious scent.
And on the exhale,
Pursing your lips,
So you're cooling down the drink.
Breathing in through your nose,
Exhale,
Purse lips.
Breathing in,
Exhale,
Purse lips.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
We'll do that three more times and on each exhale see if you can prolong the exhale just a little longer than the inhale.
Breathing in,
Exhale,
Purse lips.
Breathing in,
Exhale,
Cool it down.
Breathing in.
It's time when you get to the top of your inhale,
Savour the smell of your delicious drink.
Take one more sip of air and then exhale,
Blow out.
Let go of the visualisation,
Let go of any control of your breath and just let your breath come back to its usual rhythm.
Notice if that rate has changed just a little bit,
Maybe slowed down.
One of the benefits of a forced exhalation is that it helps us to slow down the breath.
And as you sit here for a moment I invite you just to draw your focus in toward stillness within your body.
Rather than focusing on keeping your spine upright or sitting in any particular way,
Draw your focus to the inside of your body.
And allow the breath that you've cultivated,
Both in terms of the expansion and the energy that we practiced at the beginning of our session and the slowness and stillness that we practiced through our hot chocolate breath,
Allow your breath to create movement and a sense of fluidity inside your body.
Allowing the inhale to draw air and prana and life into all the crevices and cracks and cells within your body.
And on the exhale just align that air,
That breath to return to air,
Inviting a sense of softness,
A sense of give inside your body.
Letting your shoulders soften away from your ears if they crept up towards your ears a little bit.
Letting the breath soften any tension in your belly or your hips.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
And often we think about meditation as,
Or we might think about meditation as a kind of rigid practice.
This kind of fluid stillness,
Focusing on the breath,
Just allowing your breath to soften within your body,
Inside yourself,
Can be meditation.
A meditation of what is fluid and soft and giving and yielding inside.
And staying here for just a few more moments,
A few more rounds of breath.
And noticing if you want to take any movements as you experience the stillness within.
Letting that happen.
I can't explain or offer conclusions,
Just know that we're surprised into being like divers who open the treasure just as they're running out of air.
We're forced to let go of what we want in order to live another day.
Wherever you are in your breath cycle.
Empty out your air.
Take a slow breath in through your nose,
Allow your belly,
Your ribcage,
Your upper chest to fully expand and when you get to the top of your inhale,
Pause here for three,
Two,
One.
Take one more sip of air,
Fill up and exhale through pursed lips,
Slowly with control,
Letting go of your practice,
Letting go of any expectations and just savoring the treasure within.
