As you find your comfortable position,
Letting your hands rest for this practice in a way where the palms are rotated up.
The fingers can be soft,
Perhaps gently curled in a way that is just natural for your body.
And today we're going to just pair a little bit of movement with our breathing,
Which can be a nice way to have something to anchor our mind to,
And also can be a nice way to feel really alive in our body.
As you take the next few breaths,
I want you to just connect with how the body is breathing this morning.
Noticing about how long your inhale and your exhale is right now.
Maybe it's at a count of two or four,
All on its own,
And just make a mental note of that.
Noticing right now if the inhale and exhale are about equal lengths,
Or does one seem to come faster than the other?
The more we're stressed or rushing,
The more the inhale is fast,
And the exhale isn't very long either.
Now let's bring that awareness back to the hands.
I'm going to invite you to roll your hands into a gentle fist,
Not quite squeezing,
But like you're holding a roll of quarters in your hands.
And come to an exhale.
As you take the next breath in,
As you breathe in,
Allow your fingers to slowly fan open,
Like you're uncurling the hand.
And as you exhale,
Let the hand slowly curl back in.
Continue in that way,
Breathing in,
Slowly opening your hand in time with the breath.
And as you exhale,
The hand slowly closes.
Find a way to move that hand and the fingers in a way that's comfortable for your body today.
Imagine as you breathe in,
It's like a flower that is blossoming open in your hand.
And when you breathe out,
That flower closes.
Take five more breaths in this way.
Each finger like a petal.
And as you breathe,
Focusing on your hands,
Once the flower is open,
You'll notice there's a natural pause before it begins to close.
And then once closed,
There's a natural pause before it opens again.
Let yourself notice those pauses as you take the next few breaths.
Let's take three more breaths now.
And while you do that,
Just notice that on its own,
Your body might be taking slightly longer and deeper breaths.
The count might be longer than when you started.
And that perhaps the breath is more even with the inhale and exhale,
Closer to the same length.
When you're done,
Let your hands just rest.
Take a moment to notice how you feel.
Remembering you can always come back to this practice.
Even if it helps pair it with that image of the flower opening and closing.
And when you're ready,
Letting your awareness gently return.
