Welcome to this five-minute meditation practice.
Let's begin by just noticing how our body is positioned.
Maybe we're standing,
Maybe we're sitting down.
And just take a couple of deep breaths,
Doing our best to really feel the physical sensation of breathing within our body.
Noticing how the breath nourishes our body.
And when you're ready,
Just allow your breathing to find its natural rhythm.
And just checking in with your posture,
Noticing how you've landed.
Not trying to fix anything,
Just noticing,
Oh,
This is how I'm seated,
This is how I'm standing,
And bringing that curiosity to that observation.
And whatever position your body is in,
Just really feeling into its weight,
Feeling into this force of gravity,
And settling in.
Finding a nice,
Grounded,
Centered foundation with your body and the earth beneath you.
And remember throughout this short practice,
Your breath is your ally.
And feel free to take a nice deep breath,
Or even two,
Throughout this practice.
And as you breathe in through your nose,
Can you notice the sensations of that breath moving into your nostrils,
Perhaps even following into your nasal passages,
Even perhaps into your lungs?
And similarly,
Can we feel the sensation of the out-breath originate in the lungs and traveling out of our body past our nose into the air?
Just simply noticing,
Or said differently,
Bringing an awareness to the breath in a very general way.
Also noticing how the chest expands and contracts as we breathe.
What does that feel like?
In this practice,
We're simply sitting here,
Or perhaps standing here,
Breathing.
Bringing generally our awareness to our breath.
And undoubtedly our minds,
Our busy thinking minds,
Are active with distraction.
And that's perfectly fine.
Just like any attention practice,
Any awareness practice,
We notice when the distraction emerges,
Meet it with curiosity,
Acceptance.
And then remember to redirect our awareness.
In this case,
Just to the breath in some way.
We'll finish this practice with a single strike of our bell.
The instruction is simple.
Just listen.
Follow the resonance of the sound.
And see if you can find with granularity that moment where the sound ends and the silence around it follows.
And that silence will signal the finish of our practice.
