Welcome to an awareness of breath meditation.
Taking a moment to find a comfortable seat,
One in which your body can be supported,
Feel grounded,
An embodiment of a dignified posture.
Tuning into the various points of the body that allow you to cultivate the experience of sitting.
As we move into this practice,
Taking a moment to notice what intention for practice might be present with you right now.
This might be desire want to cultivate calm,
Peace,
Or it may just be simply for the experience of practice.
Or to just know a bit more about what it's like to meet yourself as you practice.
But whatever it is in this moment for you allowing yourself to just hold that lightly as you begin to practice.
Now allowing your attention to come to rest on the breath.
So becoming fully aware of breathing in this moment.
Feeling the inhale as it moves into the body.
And feeling the exhale as it moves out of the body.
Sometimes it's helpful to pick a particular point in the body in which the breath feels most vivid.
That might be the nostrils or the chest or the abdomen.
Or it may be to just experience the entire flow of the inhale and exhale as it moves through all of these regions.
But choosing for you in this moment what's right,
Allowing your attention to rest on the breath.
Being curious about the subtleties of expansion in the body on the inhale and contraction in the body on the exhale.
Giving yourself full permission to just attend to breathing right now,
Right here,
Just as it is.
No need to force or control the breath in any particular way.
It's just right now to simply observe the quality,
The experience of breathing.
So the mind may wander to various sensations in the body or sensations being felt experienced in the environment like noises.
And the practice is to simply notice when this happens,
And at the point of noticing with a gentle firmness,
Return the attention to the breath.
Coming back again and again,
Each time the attention or the awareness moves away.
And compassionately coming back to the breath.
Allowing yourself to rest,
To feel grounded,
Connected to this moment of breath.
You might notice that your mind begins to wander to particular thoughts.
Planning or anticipating problem solving type thoughts or thoughts that are engaged in experiencing memories or things that have occurred in the past.
And if this happens,
Just simply noticing the mind's activity and pull in these directions and without judgment,
Simply bring the attention back to the breath.
Being with just the breath.
You may notice particular emotions arise.
Anxiety,
Sadness,
Maybe feelings of calm or peace.
If the mind or the attention wanders to experiencing these emotions.
Again,
The act is to just simply notice that this is where the attention has been drawn.
And in the moment of noticing where you are.
Gently,
Kindly and firmly escort the attention back to the breath.
Allowing yourself to be with just this breath.
This breath in this moment right now.
Allowing yourself to return again and again to the breath in this moment.
Now allowing yourself to bring into your awareness the intention that you started with in this practice.
Just checking in with that in this moment.
And as you're aware of it,
Allowing yourself to experience and encounter the breath with it.
Just tuning into that experience and what it feels like right now.
And allowing yourself to give thanks,
Gratitude,
Kindness or compassion for your willingness to practice in this way.
To allow yourself to be met,
To be known in the moment.
