I invite you to close your eyes,
Turning your awareness within,
And make your way into a comfortable seat,
Anywhere that you can feel your sit bones grounding down.
Your spine can be long up to the top of your head,
Reaching up towards the ceiling or sky.
Once you find yourself in this comfortable seat,
With your eyes closed,
Letting go of the external world and turning your awareness within,
Feeling into your body,
Your sit bones grounding down,
Your spine long,
Relaxing your shoulders,
Relax your jaw,
Relax your belly,
Relax your hips,
And letting go of any tension that you might be holding in your body.
Now deepening your awareness even more to your breath,
Take a deep inhale through your nose and feel your belly expand,
So breathe down into your lower lungs,
Your diaphragm,
And then exhale,
Let it go through your mouth,
Sinking deeper into your body with the exhale,
Another deep inhale through your nose,
Feel your belly expand,
And exhale,
Let it go through your mouth,
Turning your attention to the movement of the breath within your body,
Feeling the downward movement of the inhale and the upward movement of the exhale.
We're going to do a simple breathing technique,
A counting breath,
And we do this so that we can yoke the mind's attention with the breath.
Sometimes the breath is too subtle of a substance for our minds to stay focused on,
So we give the mind something to focus on that's linked to the breath,
And therefore we are keeping our awareness on our breath,
Deepening that awareness within us internally,
And the counting breath,
It also elongates the exhale,
So we're going to inhale to a count of four,
Hold for two,
And exhale for five,
And by doing the longer exhale,
It activates the parasympathetic nervous system,
The rest and digest side,
Putting us into a more relaxed state,
So we are relaxing the body consciously through the longer exhales,
And we are deepening our awareness by keeping the attention,
Keeping your mind's attention linked to the breath,
For the breath is a form of consciousness in itself,
And when we connect with the breath,
We connect with something larger than us.
So we'll do it together for a few times,
And then continue counting with your own breath for a few minutes.
So inhale for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold for one,
Two,
Exhale five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
Inhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold for one,
Two,
Exhale five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
Inhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold for one,
Two,
Exhale five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
Inhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold one,
Two,
Exhale five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
And continue moving with your breath with this counting,
Keeping the mind's attention linked to the counting and therefore the breath.
And we'll do this for the next few minutes,
And if you feel that your mind starts to wander,
Just come back to the beginning,
Come back to one with the inhale and start over.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Notice if your mind has started to wander,
Maybe ruminating on the past or planning or worrying for the future and coming back into the moment,
This moment,
Back into your body,
Coming back to your breath,
Starting back at one with the inhale.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
And the next time you reach the end of the exhale,
Let go of the counting,
Feeling into the relaxed state of your body,
Keeping your attention on your breath.
Now the subtlety of the breath,
The movement of the breath within your body.
Inhale,
Feel the downward movements traveling along your central channel within,
Down into your roots,
The base of your spine,
And exhale.
Feel the upward movement of the breath along your central channel within,
Up to the crown of your head.
And taking a nice deep inhale through your nose,
Really expand your belly and exhale,
Thigh it out through your mouth,
Feeling your sit bones grounding down into the floor or the mat or the chair,
The top of your head,
The crown of your head,
Reaching up towards the skies.
And if you would like drawing your hands to touch in a prayer in front of your heart,
Honoring the meeting place of the above and below forces,
Pure consciousness from above and pure energy from below,
Take an inhale to honor these three connections.
Exhale,
Let it go.
Namaste.
Slowly opening up your eyes,
Coming back into the room,
Back into the space.
Thank you for your practice.
Namaste.
