Hello everyone and welcome.
My name is Alisha.
I'll be leading this meditation today.
In this meditation we'll be using the breath and the body to bring us into awareness of the present moment.
So begin by finding a comfortable seated position,
Either in a chair or on the floor.
Take a few moments to find your comfortable seat.
You can rock the body forward and back,
And side to side,
Eventually finding the center.
And when you find your center,
Come to stillness.
Begin to notice the floor beneath you and support underneath your seat.
Feeling the weight of the body against the floor.
From that space of stability,
Sit up tall.
Allow this posture to bring a feeling of alertness to you,
Without keeping the body rigid.
So find a sense of balance between the two.
And then begin to draw your eyes closed if you haven't already.
Take a few moments to simply notice the body sitting here.
Noticing the feeling of the air touching your skin.
Noticing any sensations that arise without any need to judge them.
Simply notice what the body is telling you in this moment.
And from this space of noticing the body,
Begin to bring your attention to the breath.
Becoming aware of where in the body you feel your breath the most.
For some,
It will be the tip of the nose or the top lip.
For others,
It may be the throat or the chest,
Or even lower down in the body towards the rib cage,
Towards the belly.
And wherever your awareness of the breath lives,
Let it simply be there.
Allow that to be your touch point for the rest of this meditation.
And without trying to change anything,
Without any judgment,
Just simply notice the breath.
Watching it come and go.
Feeling where you feel it in the body.
Allow yourself to become curious about the breath.
And let all of your interest,
All of your attention,
Come back to your breath.
From time to time,
The mind may wander,
And that's okay.
Simply notice this and redirect your attention back to the space in your body where you're feeling the breath the most.
In that moment where you notice the mind beginning to draw your attention away,
There is an opportunity to become present,
To notice the thoughts.
And to notice your attention as you redirect it towards your breath.
And this is done with love and compassion for the self,
Without any judgment,
Without any commentary.
Simply come back.
And as you sit noticing your breath,
Allow your awareness to expand,
So that you're noticing the spot where you're feeling the breath the most,
And you're also noticing the space around that spot.
So if you're feeling the breath,
Let's say,
In the chest,
You start to notice it in the ribs,
The belly.
Or if you're noticing it in the nose,
Start to become aware of the breath on your upper lip or your throat.
Allow that sensation to grow,
Beginning to notice the whole body breathing.
Feeling the body as the breath comes in and the breath goes out,
All the way from the crown of your head to the tips of your toes.
The whole body alive with breath.
From this space of noticing the body breathing,
Begin to come back to the feeling of sitting in this room right now.
And as you sit noticing your breath,
Allow your awareness to expand,
And feeling the air in the room.
Feeling any sensations on the skin.
What is it like to be here now,
Sitting in this room,
Feeling what you feel?
The power of your awareness of your body,
Yourself,
Is always with you.
Anytime you'd like to return to it,
You can simply shift your attention back to the sensations of the body.
And now very slowly,
Very gently,
Begin to bring your awareness simply into your hands resting on your lap.
And as slowly as you can,
Begin to lift your hands up off of your lap.
And gently bring the hands together in front of your heart.
And take a moment of gratitude for yourself for taking this time,
For honoring yourself.
And I thank you for joining me today.
