Welcome to today's simple guided meditation.
A chance to press pause and take some time for the most important person in the world.
You.
Remember when you look after yourself and fill your own cup,
Everybody in your life benefits.
So let's sit comfortably.
With the back upright and the neck straight.
Relax the shoulders.
Relax the face and the jaw.
Let yourself settle and land in your physical body.
If it's comfortable for you,
I'll encourage you to gently close your eyes.
Begin to bring your attention inward.
Begin by noticing.
The sensation of your feet.
Resting on the ground.
Connecting you to the earth.
Bring your awareness to the mid foot.
And see if you can get any sense of energy.
Coming in through the feet.
Again,
Connecting you to the earth.
Feel the weight of your body.
Resting and being supported by the chair.
Notice how it is for your weight to be held.
Allow yourself to be relaxed,
But alert.
Notice how it feels to sit tall.
With the back upright and the neck straight.
With the belly soft and the heart open.
Now bring your attention to your breath.
The simple,
Natural structure of the breath.
Easy and as it is.
You don't need to change the breath in any way for now.
Just notice the breath.
Notice if the breath is short or long.
Or if it's fast or slow.
Notice how it feels to breathe.
Now I'll encourage you to deepen the inhale.
Breathing in through your nose and deep into your belly.
Then just letting go.
Again,
Deepening the inhale.
Nourishing the body with fresh oxygen.
Then just letting go.
Each inward breath is a chance to rejuvenate.
And energize and nourish the body.
Each outward breath is a chance to let go.
As you continue with this deep,
Full inhales and easy releasing exhales.
Notice if you feel any different sensations in the body.
How does it feel to take full breaths?
Now I'm going to encourage you to begin to balance the breath.
And what I mean by this is we're going to begin to exhale for the same amount of time that we inhale.
So we take a nice deep breath in,
Filling the belly,
Filling the lungs.
Then we take the same length on our exhale.
Again,
Each inhale fills the lungs.
Each exhale balanced and emptying the lungs.
Continue to breathe like this at your own pace.
Finding perfect balance between every breath.
The inhale nourishing and rejuvenating.
The exhale releasing and letting go.
The inhale bringing in new life.
The exhale letting go of that which we no longer need.
If the mind wanders or you get distracted in any way,
That's okay.
Simply bring yourself back to the sensation of the inhale filling the lungs.
And then the perfectly balanced exhale emptying the lungs.
Check in now with how you feel.
What subtle changes do I notice?
What subtle changes do you notice?
When you balance the breath.
You fill and empty the lungs with every breath.
As you continue with this balanced breath,
I'm going to encourage you to bring a quality of gentleness and softness to the breath now.
Imagine there's a little feather just below your nose.
And you don't want to disturb the feather.
So you breathe ever so gently still filling your lungs.
Keeping the breath balanced and bringing this quality of gentleness and softness.
Notice how this quality of breath impacts the quality of mind and body.
Perhaps you feel more of a sense of stillness within.
You bring the softening to your breath.
Now relax your attention and just breathe normally.
Notice how you feel.
How do you feel now in your physical body?
How do you feel mentally in the mind?
How do you feel in your emotional body?
Recognize any subtle or not so subtle changes you've been able to create.
With just a few minutes of checking in,
Balancing the breath.
If your mind wandered or you became distracted during the practice,
That's okay and it's normal.
The practice is simply to notice when the mind wanders.
Bring it back to the present moment by bringing it back to the breath.
In your own time now there's no rush.
Please do take your time.
And whenever you feel comfortable,
You can slowly and gently open the eyes.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
Namaste.
