Guided Meditation 1.
1 The Breathing Meditation In order to do this meditation you can be standing or sitting you can be lying down Make yourself comfortable however you would like to You get to have your eyes opened or closed Whatever makes you most comfortable Now Notice that you have a body You have elbows You have knuckles on your toes you have earlobes And you have a torso Your torso is where your lungs and your stomach and your intestines are and Where you are bringing breath and life-giving oxygen into your being As you bring your attention here you may start to notice That you are a breathing being and you might be able to feel the sensation in your body where the movement of your breath Is most alive Stop for a moment to see if you can feel the breath coming into you and going out of you Where is the sensation the most alive in your nose in your upper sinuses in your mouth In your throat Do you feel it in your lungs in the way your ribs move?
Does your belly Move in response to your breath?
In the way your ribs move does your belly move in response to your breathing?
Wherever the sensation has the most intensity invite your attention to rest there This is a point where you could count your breaths if you like and I'll hold silence for a moment You can see how long you stay with the invitation to bring your attention back to the sensation of your breath When it wanders away Whenever your attention wanders as attention does gently and with warmth invite it to come back to your breath Your attention always wants to make sure that you are focusing on whatever is most important and In the beginning of learning meditation It usually believes that almost anything is more important than your breath So thank your attention for its commitment to keeping you going with its alertness To what it thinks is important and see if your attention is willing to come back to the sensation of breathing You may find yourself noticing other body sensations like discomfort aches or pains Acknowledge that your attention is trying to help you and find out Again,
If it is willing to come back to your breath Sounds or changes in your environment may pull you away Using warm acknowledgement again Bring your attention back to your breath Your thoughts may go in other directions and you may find that you're trying to plan your day or reviewing what happened this morning Gently and with kindness invite your attention to come back to the sensation of breathing You might express the warmth by saying hello attention.
How are you doing?
Did you get distracted by something you thought was really worrisome?
Did you want to contribute to my well-being and take care of me?
We can worry about that later.
I wonder if right now you'd be willing to come back to my breath You might notice that you are not aware of your breath You might notice your voice tone in your thoughts Bring quiet respectful and affectionate notes to the sound you make inside your own head You might not speak with words at all Instead visualizing a gentle hand to affectionately nudge your attention back to your breath Take some time to follow this reunion of attention and breath several times And see if this feels any different from how you have done guided meditations in the past Whenever it feels right to you,
Thank your attention for its efforts and let the lens of your focus Expand out to include your body as a whole and a sense of yourself being part of your world What sounds do you hear?
How does your body feel?
Can you feel your feet on the floor?
What are your hands doing?
Let yourself gently wiggle or move a body part as you bring yourself fully back To whatever your attention would like to move toward in your regular life Now that you've had a moment to breathe You're not going to have a moment to breathe in your regular life now that you've had a moment to breathe
