Sitting with the breath and body and mindfulness recording by Gemma for the Owl and the Coconut.
Coming into a seated position now.
Perhaps sitting on something like a dining room chair that's more upright.
But if that's not possible,
Just finding a chair or position that's okay for you.
If you can sit slightly forward so your back comes away from the chair,
Allowing your spine to follow its natural curves,
Sitting upright but not uptight.
Allowing your shoulders to fall back and down,
Just letting go of them if you can.
And now closing your eyes if that's okay or having an unfixed gaze in front of you if you prefer.
Now becoming aware of your breath as it moves in and out of your body.
Perhaps noticing sensations of your breath down in the belly,
The stretching of the skin on an in-breath and the sense of gentle release on the out-breath.
Not trying to change the breath in any way,
Just letting the breath breathe itself like it always does.
And your mind will wander many times through this practice because that's what our minds are designed to do.
Not trying to stop the mind from wandering because that's impossible.
Just noticing when it goes off where it goes to and in a kind way without telling yourself off,
Just bringing the mind back to the sensations of the breath in the belly.
Allowing the breath to anchor you back to the present moment over and over.
Each time you notice that your mind has wandered off is a moment of awareness,
A moment of waking up to your present moment awareness.
So just spending a few moments in silence now,
Sitting with the breath,
Coming back to the breath over and over.
Each in-breath is a new beginning and each out-breath is a letting go.
And now expanding your attention from the breath in the body to taking in the whole body breathing and taking in the many sensations in the whole of the body wherever they are.
The sensations of your body against whatever it's sitting on,
The contact of your skin on the chair,
Sensations of your feet on the floor.
Other sensations from the surface of your skin and inside of the body.
At times zooming the lens of your awareness into particular sensations within the body.
And at other times zooming out and holding the whole of the body in a broad spacious awareness.
Just using the silence now to sit with these sensations within the body as they arise and fall away.
When you sit in for a longer time like this it's not unusual for sensations of being uncomfortable to become aware in the body.
It's up to you how you choose to respond to this.
You could shift your posture to adjust and be more comfortable and being aware of these movements and any sensations.
And your other choice is to stay with the slight discomfort and bring your awareness into these sensations.
Perhaps even breathing into and out of these areas in your body.
Using your breath to explore these sensations.
Not trying to get rid of these sensations but to notice the nature of them.
Patterns of sensations with their change in being open to them and exploring them.
And if you explore the intensity and it stops pulling for your attention bringing the awareness to the whole body sitting here just as it is right now.
Checking in with yourself from time to time noticing distractions where your mind is pulled away to.
Pulled away from the present moment by daydreams or thoughts or emotions.
And being aware of your reaction to distractions,
Any irritations or frustrations,
Any tensing or bracing.
And then cradling any and all of these sensations in awareness.
Allowing things to be just as they are,
Just for now,
As much as is possible.
And as we bring this practice to a close just being aware of your body on the chair,
The sensations of the feet on the floor.
And if your eyes have been closed just opening them now and taking in the objects around you.
And if you choose moving on to journaling your sketchbook,
Anything you notice during this practice.
As we end this practice for now.
