This is Elena with Move Your Spirit Yoga and this is a 10 minute meditation.
Get ready by sitting quietly in a comfortable position on the floor or on a chair.
You may also lie down if you prefer.
Keep the spine straight.
Relax your shoulders and your face.
Close the eyes.
Take a long inhale.
Hold it for just a second and then exhale fully.
Now repeat.
Inhale.
Hold the breath for just a moment.
Exhale from the mouth.
One more time.
Inhale.
Hold the breath for just a moment.
Exhale from the mouth.
Now resume your normal breathing.
Relax the space between the eyebrows.
Relax your jaw.
Let your hands rest on your lap.
One on top of the other.
Palms up or on your thighs in chain mudra with the thumb and index finger touching.
Become familiar with the present moment.
Become familiar with what you're sitting on or lying on.
The space between that surface and your body.
Simply observe how it feels without justifying the feeling or wanting to change it.
With your eyes closed,
Scan the room in which you are.
Visualize the ceiling,
The walls.
Feel the floor underneath you.
Become familiar with the sounds around you and let them be a part of this experience without wanting to block them out or change them.
Observe the flow of your natural breathing without altering it just as it naturally happens.
One inhale,
Turning into an exhale and then again a long inhale,
Becoming the next exhale like a flow,
An uninterrupted flow.
You can mentally repeat to yourself,
I am inhaling,
I am exhaling as you take the in and out breath.
Relax your jaw and continue observing your breathing.
If you notice yourself slouching,
Gently lift your spine back up.
Relax your shoulders.
Allow your breathing now to become a little longer and a little smoother.
A longer inhalation followed by a longer exhalation and then again a longer inhalation followed by a longer exhalation.
As you continue to do this,
Direct your attention to the belly.
As you inhale,
The belly lifts and grows like a balloon or a loaf of bread.
As you exhale,
The belly draws in.
Inhale the belly rises.
Exhale the belly draws in.
Inhale the belly rises and lifts.
Exhale the belly draws in.
Continue with this rhythm at your natural pace and begin to visualize a psychic passage or a hollow tube that looks like a flute that connects the belly to the throat.
A psychic passage or hollow tube like a flute that connects the belly to the throat.
As you inhale,
The belly rises and lifts.
The breath moves inside the psychic passage or hollow tube and reaches the throat.
As you exhale,
The breath moves from the throat into the psychic passage to the belly.
The belly draws in.
One more time.
As you inhale,
The belly rises.
The breath moves inside the psychic passage,
Reaches the throat.
As you exhale,
The breath moves from the throat into the psychic passage to the belly and the belly draws inward.
As you continue with this rhythm,
Stay with the present moment.
This is the only moment that you have.
As you inhale,
The belly rises and lifts.
The breath moves from the belly into the seat of our feelings,
Our emotions inside the psychic passage and reaches the throat,
The seat of our speech.
As you exhale,
The breath moves from the throat to the psychic passage into the belly and the belly draws inward.
Whatever thought is coming your way,
Let it move.
Let it come and let it go.
You're not questioning your thought.
You're not justifying your thought.
You're not wanting to change it.
It's like you would look at a cloud in the sky.
You observe your thought.
You let it move.
Inhale,
Belly rises.
The breath moves inside the psychic passage or hollow tube and reaches the throat.
Exhale,
The breath moves from the throat into the psychic passage to the belly and the belly draws in.
And repeat.
Inhale,
Belly rises and lifts.
The breath moves inside the psychic passage.
Watch it.
Observe it.
The breath reaches the throat.
Exhale,
The breath moves from the throat into the psychic passage all the way to the belly and the belly draws in.
If you notice you're slouching,
Straighten your spine a little more.
Relax your jaw a little more.
Relax the shoulders.
And continue using your own rhythm.
There's no right or wrong way to do this.
There's nothing to do,
Nowhere to go,
Except being present in this moment,
In this very moment.
You're inhaling,
Watching the belly rising and the breath moving inside the psychic passage all the way to the throat.
You are exhaling from the throat into the psychic passage to the belly and the belly draws in.
Just a few more rounds just like this at your own pace.
Inhaling and exhaling.
Inhaling and exhaling.
Inhaling and exhaling.
And last time,
Inhaling and exhaling.
Now resume your normal breathing and notice how perhaps your breath is a lot smoother now than at the beginning of the practice.
Just make a note of it.
Keep your eyes closed.
Bring the hands together at the heart with the palms touching.
Bring the palms of the hands together to create heat.
Keep your hands over your closed eyes.
Blink them open and close for a few times and then leave them open.
Notice the hands at the side of the face and the side of the body.
And notice how you feel.
This concludes our meditation.
Mariam Tassat.
