I'm going to guide us through a meditation practice that focuses on our breath and our body.
So when you're ready I invite you to take a comfortable and balanced posture,
Feeling alert and upright and at the same time relaxed in your seat.
And you're welcome to gently close your eyes or if you prefer you can lower your gaze towards the tip of your nose.
And if it feels okay for you now just notice the natural rhythm of your breath in your body.
So we're aware of our living breathing body in this moment and we're just settling into that natural rhythm of breath.
And can you become aware of the place where the sensation of the breath is most noticeable in your body?
For me that's the nostrils.
But if your mind is busy with thoughts you may prefer to focus your attention away from the head and notice the sensations of breathing in your belly.
So this will be the focus point of our attention for the duration of the meditation.
So I just invite you to give your mind and body permission to be open to resting on your breath in this moment.
And you may notice contents in your mind that may be distracting you from this focus on your breath.
So in which case you can just gently release any contents.
Could be thoughts,
Images,
Emotions and just let yourself return to your focal point on the breath.
Using your awareness to uplift any dullness or drowsiness of your mind to refresh it to clarity and in this way we're cultivating qualities of mindfulness and awareness to create a balanced mind.
So now gathering as much awareness as you can right into the centre where you feel the pulse of your body breathing.
Just resting in the inner stillness that you may discover there.
So now you're welcome to join me again by relaxing the centering focus and letting some of that clarity and calm radiate out from the centre of your breath.
So letting it gradually diffuse through the rest of your body.
You may feel the awareness expanding through your heart and lungs,
Chest and shoulders.
And then your diaphragm and abdomen,
Pelvis and hips.
You may sense your awareness,
A breath at a time rippling out through your limbs,
Down the legs to your feet,
Down the arms to your hands and then up through the neck and jaw to your ears and face and crown of the head.
So now with your awareness you could try sensing your entire body and just notice that the solidity of your body might dissolve a little to become a bit more airy and fluid,
Maybe more permeable or translucent even.
So let's sit together now with our awareness filling every tissue and cell of our bodies in this way.
So we're going to slowly and gently return from the meditation now.
We want to maintain the calmness of our nervous system to keep the benefits of the meditation going and I invite you to very gradually let go of the practice of noticing your body breathing and to slowly expand your awareness to once again include your outer physical body,
Noticing the sensations of your body in contact with the seat and the temperature in the air,
Any sounds or smells that you might notice.
And before we finish our practice you might like to make an intention to bring these qualities of awareness of the breathing body into moments of your daily life.
And so finally when you're ready you can slowly open your eyes.
