So starting this meditation,
Just relaxing the body and taking a few deep breaths,
Allowing the body to relax on the out breath and now tuning into the breath wherever it's easiest to follow.
How does the breath actually feel?
Moment to moment,
Seeing if you can follow the breath sensations all the way through the in breath,
The gap between the in breath and the out breath,
All the way through the out breath,
The gap between the out breath and the in breath,
And then again into the next breath cycle.
It's easy to assume that the gap between breaths won't have any sensations there,
But just staying receptive,
Often there will be some subtle sensations.
Not worrying too much about whether what you're feeling is really breath sensations or whether you're in some way imagining it,
Just staying receptive to what experience is actually like.
Okay,
So now we're going to do a check-in.
So drop the breath for a moment and using a broad,
Open,
Receptive kind of attention,
Just check in on what's going on in the mind right now.
Sometimes there may be nothing going on,
Except that attention was following the breath sensations as you had intended.
However,
Often when you check in in this way,
You may notice that your attention had been divided between the breath and a distraction.
And if you do notice this,
Simply let go of the distraction and sharpen up your attention on the breath.
And if you're able to do this,
That's a great success and you can really congratulate yourself for those moments.
So let's go back to the breath again now and in a little while,
We'll do a check-in again.
So again,
Engaging with the breath,
Using what other methods like counting help you to sustain attention there.
Okay,
Let's check in again.
So again,
Dropping the breath,
Checking in on the mind with an open curiosity,
Noticing if there were any distractions.
And if you need to,
Gently reasserting your intention to follow the breath sensations,
Letting any distractions go.
You may find that when you look for distractions,
They disappear,
But that's okay.
You can just look back over the previous few seconds or so and notice any distractions that had been present.
And then of course,
Moving attention back to the breath.
Check in again,
Noticing what the mind is doing,
Where is your attention?
And if you need to,
Dropping any distractions,
Narrowing down attention back on the breath.
This practice can be a little difficult to get used to.
It can feel awkward at first to move attention away from the breath to check for distractions and then move it back again.
Can feel disruptive,
But with a bit of practice,
It'll soon start to feel much easier and more natural.
And between check-ins,
Continuing to attend to the breath with an alert curiosity,
Seeing if you can stay with the sensations as they change continuously throughout the breath cycle.
Let's do another check-in now.
When you're just starting this practice,
You may find it helpful to check in quite frequently,
Perhaps once every minute or two.
So over time,
You'll probably find that you don't need to check in as often.
Although of course,
Continue to use it as often as feels helpful.
So you can continue this practice for as long as you'd like or in your own time,
Bring the practice to a close.
