If it works for you to start,
Close the eyes and just allow yourself to look at the back of your eyelids.
Notice if it's completely black.
Notice if there's little spots,
Little light stains from when the eyes were open.
Just seeing the back of the eyelids.
Allow your face to relax on the following breath.
Take an inhale just to fill up the body with a new fresh breath.
And as you exhale,
Just allow the body to relax.
Do this a couple more times.
Take an inhale as if you could pull up all the energy,
All the emotion of the day.
Take an exhale,
Allow it to rinse itself out of the body.
Allow yourself to release tension from the crown of the head,
Somewhere in the thoughts,
In the expressions in the face,
To the throat and the shoulders.
Imagine any tension could just release itself out of the body,
Out through the soles of the feet,
Down into the earth where that energy can be reused and recycled.
Getting into this awareness of our breath,
Noticing how each breath has some change on the body.
Every breath is unique.
No two breaths are exactly alike.
And the trail that your breath travels also changes subtly from moment to moment,
From day to day,
From season to season.
And here we are at the change of seasons,
The change in temperature.
For a lot of us,
Even the change in perspective,
A change in clarity,
Sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.
We'll use this meditation as a way to continue to follow our breath and see the subtle changes we have on a moment by moment basis.
As you continue to watch your breath,
Your breath may deepen with each passing moment,
Each moment of following your breath in and following your breath out.
The breath may also lengthen or shorten depending on how the mind is cooperating with your meditation.
Sometimes the mind is working in harmony with the meditation.
There's a quietness in the mind that's supported by quietness in the breath.
You may find this,
Like everything else,
To be temporary and there may be moments the mind will want more.
There may be times that the mind may also play tricks,
Almost like a prank,
Shifting the reality that we were invested in.
If these moments happen,
Just like everything else,
They are also temporary,
Continuing to invest,
To buy in to this reality of breath.
Feeling the breath move for long or for short and allowing that to continuously be the guide for this time that you've allotted for yourself.
Let's get into a rhythm of deep breathing.
So let's start first by using our abdominal muscles to shush out excessive breath.
So just empty out the lungs.
From the bottom of that exhale,
Take an inhale for one,
Two,
Three,
Four and exhale for one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Inhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four and exhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Take an inhale,
Breathing in,
I know that I'm breathing in.
And take an exhale,
Breathing out,
I know that I'm breathing out.
Breathing in,
I know that I'm breathing in.
And breathing out,
I know that I'm breathing out.
Breathing out,
I know that I'm breathing out.
Breathing out,
I know that I'm breathing out.
If it moves you two,
Take a big breath in here to fill up and hold.
And through the mouth let it go.
Notice the aftermath of a big breath.
You may have to swallow or lick the lips or wiggle out the jaw to come back to some stillness.
Notice any sensation and allow yourself to stop the sensation like the creeping of an ant.
If you see or feel something come up in the senses,
Almost like the creeping of an ant,
Just allow it to stop.
Continue to focus on your breath.
Continue to allow the breath to move.
And notice the senses still.
Breathing out,
I know that I'm breathing out.
Breathing out,
I know that I'm breathing out.
Live in the comfort of your own quietude.
Allow that quiet space to be a place you can nestle in,
You can cozy up to.
You can allow yourself to be bundled by the quiet space.
You could even focus your closed eyes towards your eyebrows and maybe imagine a warmth coming across the body,
The breath pulling in something warm and comfortable.
Breathing out,
I know that I'm breathing out.
And imagine within this quiet space,
Within this warmth,
Within this wrapping of our breath,
There is this room to build from our mental house,
From the inside of our head.
From that breath wrapping around us,
Golden light,
Golden house,
A golden sanctuary,
A place to house our quiet space.
As the body has stillness,
The mind is still awake.
You can allow your breath to now travel.
Allow your breath,
The warmth of your breath,
To just move through the body.
Move around through the skull,
Move around the shoulders and back.
Imagine your breath moving through the hips,
Moving through the legs and the knees and the ankles.
The breath moving through the navel.
The breath spinning through the spine.
Breathing out,
I know that I'm breathing out.
Allow the breath as it's moving throughout the body to locate a central source,
A central place.
Allow the breath to grow from that central place.
It might live somewhere along your spine.
Maybe it's the base of the spine,
Maybe it's the part of the spine just behind your navel.
Maybe it's behind the heart.
Maybe it's in the back of the neck.
Allow the breath to be pulled up from the center to space.
Allow the release of your breath,
The releasing of your breath,
The releasing of your breath to disperse throughout the body.
Allow the breath to be pulled up from the center to space.
Breathing out,
I know that I'm breathing out.
Breathing out,
I know that I'm breathing out.
There's a timelessness to this moment that lives beyond the temporary focus of the mind.
There's a timelessness,
A solidness that lives beyond the physical changes in the body.
There is a reservoir of knowledge and untapped potential that we can connect to better than we can verbalize,
Articulate.
Explain.
There is an orderliness,
Personally,
That correlates with the orderliness in the universe.
Tapping into the center source that lives within the body,
Take a breath in to fill it up.
Take a breath out to expand it.
Pulling up that center source,
Expanding it through the edges of the body.
Allowing it to fill back up again,
And expanding it six feet out from the body.
Imagine this energy,
This aura,
This spirit of self expanding,
Allowing it to fill up,
Allowing it to expand to our social groups,
The ways we show up in our social settings.
Allowing it to fill up and expanding it to our professional groups.
Continuing the process,
Allowing it to expand to our community.
How we show up affects how others can show up,
Expanding it to our district.
People we may never directly meet,
In some way affected by our presence,
Our source,
Our ability to choose,
We can expand it out to the most far reaching places that our hearts and minds can imagine.
I start to round out this meditation today.
Let's take a big,
Full breath in for yourself,
For taking the time to meditate,
For seeing the value it has on you and those around you.
A breath out to let it solidify,
To let it ground,
To let it be something that shows up later in your day,
A seed that bears fruit.
You might take a moment to roll the neck around,
Stretch the arms,
To open the eyes,
To find a little reset for your day.
Thank you for taking the time,
For sharing your practice in this way.
Until next time,
Namaste.
