Welcome to this practice.
My name is Reuben.
What do you notice in this moment?
Something's brought you to this very practice.
Is it a sense of overwhelm?
The nervous system being upregulated?
Anxiousness?
An apprehension?
An anxiety?
The good news is that you have the capacity to down-regulate your nervous system by using gentle persistence with our point of connection.
If we can gently come back each time when we notice distraction,
Being with that point of focus,
That meditation anchor,
Helps down-regulate the nervous system.
So let's do this.
You've shown up to soothe your nervous system.
This is an act of self-care.
So sending some thoughts of appreciation to the you here now.
Your breath has been with you since the day you were born.
Your breath is an ally,
Your companion,
For whenever you choose it.
It hasn't just given you life,
It is also there for you as a bridge from an upregulated nervous system to a down-regulated nervous system.
This is where the magic is.
What you might like to do in this moment is to imagine that there's this soft balloon in front of you.
You can make this balloon any color or colors that you wish.
And as you notice this imaginary balloon,
Allow it to gently inflate and deflate,
Getting this inflation and deflation of the balloon perfectly in time with the waves of your breath.
You'll know when you get distracted because the balloon disappears.
When it does,
Just gently coming back to this,
This balloon is a stepping stone to me connecting to the magnificence of my breath,
The softness of my breath,
My breath that helps down-regulate my nervous system.
As my heart rate drops and my breathing over time automatically gets more and more gentle.
Maybe you prefer to be with the direct experience of your breath as you track the movement of your breath in this moment.
The direct experience,
Close up,
Intimate with the softness of your breath.
When we're hooked by a thought,
That's when we can gently come back again.
Every time you notice that you're distracted is a win,
Not a moment of failure.
And an opportunity to come back to the breath as you allow thoughts to come and go.
Allowing thoughts to do their thing as you connect to the gentleness of your breath.
And if I was to give you a little tip,
See how gentle you can be as you connect to the breath,
As you notice the gentleness of your breath,
You can continue like this appreciating how your body breathes at its own rate and rhythm.
Or if you like,
We can go a little further.
And what we can do here is to just now focus our attention on the out breath,
Where it starts,
How it speeds up,
Slows down and comes to a pause.
Just the out breath,
Becoming more and more intimate with the out breath.
And here's where we can do something a little different.
Mindfulness of the breath is allowing the breath to do what it will.
What we're going to do now,
If you choose to,
Is to notice the out breath and apply just a touch of softness to your out breath.
I really want to emphasize the gentleness.
This softness is very subtle,
Very soft.
And when you soften your out breath in this way,
It's like you're giving your nervous system an extra soothing stroke.
I am here for me in this moment.
This gift is for me and from me.
This meditation has come to an end.
