Welcome everybody.
Thank you for joining me today.
I'm going to offer you a breath meditation.
For settling,
For relaxing.
For just being.
Find yourself in a posture that works well for you,
Whether you're seated,
Whether you're standing,
Whether you're reclining.
And maybe shrug the shoulders a bit and just move around a little bit to find how you want to be.
And if you'd like to close your eyes,
Close your eyes.
If not,
A gentle,
Soft gaze down.
Take a breath to sense into this moment.
And as you let it out,
See if you can let any amount of tension or stress melt a little bit.
Any amount is exactly the right amount.
And as we settle in,
Get a sense of the body just as it is.
Maybe the feet on the floor.
Or noticing the touch of the backs of your thighs and your bottom in the chair.
Or any way that your body might be touching the furniture or the earth.
Notice the hands.
And take a breath.
A few breath cycles to arrive.
Letting each in-breath be an arriving.
Each out-breath a settling.
And then landing in that small space before the next breath arrives.
Give that a try.
Arriving and settling and landing.
And then noticing where you feel your breath most clearly.
It may be the touch of the air going in and out of the nostrils.
Or maybe it's how the shoulders rise and fall with each breast cycle.
Or the expansion and the relaxation of the chest and the belly.
Or maybe there's nowhere that you notice your breath specifically,
But you know you're breathing.
It's all the right way.
To breathe and know you're breathing.
To be here.
Over and over again.
In this body at this time.
Welcoming yourself exactly as you are today.
I'm getting a little closer to the breath.
Noticing where you feel your breath.
And also noticing the inhale,
The beginning,
The middle,
And end of the inhale.
Likewise,
The beginning.
Middle and end of the exhale.
See if you can give your awareness,
Your attention to this experience of breathing,
Being close to the inhale,
Being close to the exhale.
There's nothing to figure out.
Just this,
Just this breathing.
Letting the face be soft,
The shoulders drop.
Making space for the breath to move.
Letting it be soft.
Letting it be what it is.
The inhale,
The exhale.
Maybe even finding this enjoyable.
There's nothing to do.
There's nowhere to go.
Simply being with this breathing.
A few minutes like this each day.
Can be very helpful.
For cultivating steadiness and balance and clarity and letting any stress of the day melt off.
This breath,
This inhale.
This exhale.
And then coming back into the body.
Maybe looking around the room,
Wherever you are.
And giving yourself.
A little gratitude for showing up for yourself today with this breath at this time.
You
