As you settle in for this meditation,
Notice the points of contact between the body and the ground beneath you.
Whether you're sitting on the ground in one of the traditional meditation postures or seated in a chair with the chair providing support and an interconnection between your body and the earth through the floor,
Simply rest in this seated position and take a few moments just to check in with yourself in this moment.
Allow the thoughts of the day to rest,
Simply noticing what thoughts may be arising and then inviting them to simply fall away for the next few moments as you just practice sitting and breathing.
So whether your eyes are open or closed,
If the eyes are open,
Pick a point of contact in front of you that will allow you to at least lower the eyes and support you in turning inward in these next few moments,
Minimizing the stimulus of the visual.
Breathing in these few moments in the sensations of sitting and just simply breathing in and settling the attention on the sensations of breathing,
Not thinking about breathing.
Just gently sensing some place perhaps in the body where you can feel the impact of a gentle in-breath,
Following it all the way to its natural culmination in the desire to release in and out-breath.
It may help if you're just beginning your meditation practice to allow the support of not only a particular point of focus in the body where you can feel the in-breath,
Perhaps at the nostrils,
Simply coming in,
The flow of air over the nostrils into the nasal cavity,
The flow of the out-breath,
Perhaps just a bit warmer having entered the body and now being released.
If you find that you might appreciate a little more support,
Perhaps gently counting beneath in each in-breath and each out-breath,
Silently noting one,
Two,
At a pace that's comfortable for you,
Perhaps if you count up to five or ten and simply begin again,
Because we're not trying to get any place in particular but simply to have support in these few moments of meditation practice.
We're concentrating the mind on the sensations of breathing as much as possible,
Gently bringing our attention back if the mind wanders,
And again and again as often as is necessary,
Simply beginning again.
If you notice that the mind has wandered off as it will,
Mindfulness practice is an opportunity to very gently notice what has arisen and with a kind of kindness,
Simply redirect,
Gently redirect the intention and attention,
In this case back to the sensations of simply breathing in and out in a seated position.
We're focusing in on the sensations of breathing and allowing that focus to support you in concentrating the mind in this moment,
Resting in this moment in the sensations of the sway,
The swing of the in-breath,
The sway and swing of the out-breath.
So we're focusing on all these in-breaths.
Feel the support that exists for you in this moment.
From the support of my voice guiding you in focusing inward and resting in these sensations,
Including the support of the breath itself.
With every in-breath and out-breath cleansing opportunity for renewal.
For sensing into the support that exists in and around you in every moment.
Sense into what is well within you in this moment.
And as we prepare to close,
See if you can notice something about the impact of these few moments of meditation.
Some way in which the sense of being in the body may have shifted.
Perhaps develop an intention for some way in which you might carry this sense,
This experience forward on this day's journey.
May you be well.
May you be well.
May you be well.
