Taking a little time to get the body settled and comfortable and in your own time coming into stillness.
If it's helpful to do so,
Taking a few deeper,
Longer breaths in through the nose and out slowly through a small hole in the mouth.
And as you do so appreciating the refreshing,
Energising quality of the in-breath and the releasing,
Softening quality of the out-breath,
The quality of letting go.
And then at a certain point,
Breathing normally in and out of the nose,
Just letting the breath do its own thing.
And then taking some time to scan down the body,
Noticing if there's any unnecessary tightness or tension that can be released at this time.
Giving particular attention to areas where tension can linger,
In the muscles of the face,
The shoulders,
In the chest and the belly.
Letting go of whatever tension can be released and accepting whatever remains.
And then beginning by bringing attention to the breath as it flows through the insides of the nostrils and really zooming in on this part of the body.
Noticing all the in and out sensations of the breath in this exact location.
The ingoing and the outgoing breath.
Perhaps noticing a slight temperature difference,
The air cooler as it flows in and probably warmer as it flows out.
Perhaps noticing the movement of the tiny hairs in the nostrils as the breath flows past them.
Noticing sensations at the entrances to the nostrils and also sensations further up the nostrils at the top of the nose where the two air currents meet.
The sensations of the breath in the nostrils.
Letting this be where you come back to again and again without judgement.
Whenever you notice you've become distracted by sounds or thoughts.
And then tracking the pathway of the breath down to the throat and noticing what there is to notice in this location.
The downward movement of the in-breath and the upward movement of the out-breath.
Again perhaps noticing whether the air is slightly cooler as it comes in and slightly warmer as it flows out.
Noticing the attention on the sensations of the breath in the throat.
And then tracking the pathway of the breath further down the windpipe as it comes down past the collarbone area and down into the chest.
And here the windpipe splitting in two and the incoming breath flowing into the lungs on either side.
And as the lungs fill up the whole of the ribcage expanding and then contracting as they empty.
So the whole of the upper body expanding and contracting in all directions.
Outwards,
Out to the sides,
Backwards and perhaps even upwards with the shoulders maybe rising and then falling slightly with each breath.
The whole of the chest area expanding with the in-breath and then contracting again with the out-breath as the lungs empty.
Resting the attention on the sensations of the breath in the chest.
Expanding and contracting one breath cycle after another.
And then taking the awareness lower down in the body,
Down into the abdomen.
Noticing what's going on with the breath in this part of the body.
With the in-breath,
The diaphragm moving downwards and in some people and at some times this pushing the belly outwards as the air flows in.
And then with the out-breath as the diaphragm retreats upwards again the belly recedes.
And so if this is the case for you,
Perhaps noticing the abdomen expanding and contracting with the breath as if it were inflating with the in-breath and deflating with the out-breath.
Resting the awareness on the sensations of the breath down in the belly one cycle after another.
Letting this be where you come back to whenever the mind wanders off.
And perhaps even lower,
Right down in the pelvic area.
There may be subtle sensations to notice associated with the incoming and outgoing breath.
And possibly elsewhere in the body.
You may or may not notice all kinds of very subtle sensations and micro-movements happening in time with the breath.
Down in the legs and feet,
Out in the arms and hands,
In the head and face.
So perhaps a sense of this whole body alive with breath-related sensations and with other sensations.
This whole body sitting here receiving the breath and then letting it go.
And as best you can,
Greeting each and every breath with fresh awareness as if you had never experienced a breath before.
As if you had no idea what to expect each time.
Resting the awareness in the changing sensations of this living,
Breathing human body.
Whenever you become distracted,
Sinking the awareness out of the head and back down into this breathing body.
This body receiving and releasing the breath.
There may be thoughts,
Emotions,
Sounds.
The mind may be busy or there may be agitation in the body.
Whatever it is,
Nothing has gone wrong.
Just acknowledging your experience,
Doing your best to accept it as it is.
And then again and again,
Whenever you need to do so,
Coming back to filling this whole living,
Breathing body with kind,
Non-judgmental awareness.
With the support of the breath,
Maintaining kind,
Friendly awareness of the sensations in this human body,
Just as it is.
And continuing in this way for the last short while.
Inhabiting the body as fully as you can and as you do so,
Cultivating the qualities of presence,
Acceptance and patience for the way things are in each moment.
