Okay,
So starting this meditation with some nice deep breaths,
Allowing the body to relax on the out-breath,
Noticing if there are any areas of tension or tightness in the body,
And seeing if you can just allow them to relax a little bit more.
And then gently bringing your attention to the breath at the nose,
Noticing the sensations of breathing,
And you can count the breath if that's useful.
Okay,
So now we're going to practice noticing the different parts of the breath.
And to begin,
See if you can notice the moment that the in-breath begins,
And for the next in-breath,
And the next one.
How do you know the in-breath has started?
Probably you'll be able to feel the coolness of the in-breath,
The cooler air moving over the nostrils.
You might want to take a few breaths,
Noticing that the air is cooler on the in-breath than on the out-breath,
And seeing if you can notice the exact moment that the in-breath begins.
And if you can do that,
Now see whether you can notice the exact beginning of the out-breath as well.
Often this is a little bit less distinct than the beginning of the in-breath,
But it doesn't matter if the sensations aren't as sharp or as clear,
As long as your attention is there.
So now we're noticing when the in-breath starts,
And when the out-breath starts,
And what sensations go with these.
And if it helps,
You can label in and out,
Or if you prefer,
You can continue to count the breath.
And keeping a gentleness of attention,
A gentle curiosity.
And if there are distractions,
Letting them come,
Letting them be,
And letting them go.
And if you need to,
If your attention has wandered,
Just very gently bringing your attention back to the breath.
Letting the breath be the home that you return to.
Going back to noticing the start of the in and out-breath.
And when you can do that,
The next step is to see if you can notice the end of the in and out-breath as well.
So now you'll be noticing the start of the in-breath,
The end of the in-breath,
And then the start of the out-breath,
And the end of the out-breath.
And then repeat.
And if you'd like to,
You can continue to use the labels in and out.
So labeling the start and end of the in-breath in,
And the start and end of the out-breath out.
So in,
In,
Out,
And see if you can do that for a few breaths in a row.
So noticing as well what the end of a breath is like,
What sensations are present,
And seeing if you can notice the moment that the in and the out-breaths end as precisely as you can.
Just staying relaxed,
Enjoying this simple process of training the mind as you watch the breath.
So now when you're able to notice these parts of the breath,
The next step is to note whether there are any sensations in the pauses after the in-breath and the out-breath.
So now we're noticing the start and the end of the in-breath,
The pause after the in-breath,
The start and end of the out-breath,
And the pause after the out-breath.
And then repeat.
And if there are no sensations,
Or the sensations aren't very clear at any point,
It doesn't matter,
As long as you're keeping your attention at the nose.
Soon you'll be able to notice more and more detail in the sensations throughout the whole breath cycle.
So you can continue this meditation for as long as you'd like,
Or you can gently bring the practice to a close.
