Awareness of body and breath.
This is a practice to ground yourself in the present moment.
So choosing a comfortable seated position on a cushion or a straight back chair.
If on a cushion,
Making sure that the hips are placed higher than the knees.
If using a chair,
Sitting away from the back of the chair so that the spine can be self-supporting.
And having the feet flat on the floor.
And making sure that the back is straight but not stiff or tensed up.
Allowing a dignified posture that allows you to be awake and aware.
Allowing the eyes to close if this feels comfortable for you.
Otherwise just having an unfocused gaze in front of you.
And now bringing your awareness to the sensations where the body is in contact with the surface beneath you.
Contact points between the feet and the ground.
And between the body and the cushion or chair.
Spending a few moments exploring these sensations of contact.
Now focusing your attention and shifting it to the feet left and right.
Taking in all physical sensations in both feet and ankles.
There may be no sensations in the feet and that's fine.
We're not trying to create any special experience.
We're just observing what is already here.
Now expanding your awareness to take in the lower legs.
And then the knees.
And the upper legs.
So holding both legs at awareness.
And now expanding your awareness again up the body to the pelvis and the hips.
To the lower back.
And the lower abdomen.
Then slowly expanding further upwards to the chest and the upper back.
Right up to the shoulders.
Noticing all physical sensations in the upper body.
Then expanding further to include the left arm.
Then the right arm.
And finally expanding awareness to include the neck,
The face and the head.
And so holding the whole body in awareness now,
Sitting here in this moment.
Noticing perhaps the ever-changing landscape of sensations.
How they arise,
Change and dissolve in awareness.
And seeing if it is possible to allow the sensations in the body to be just as they are.
So not trying to control anything or wanting things to be different from how you find them.
And now from this sense of groundedness,
Turning your attention back to the center of the body,
To the sensations in the abdomen.
As the breath moves in and out of the body.
Noticing the changing patterns of physical sensations here.
If you like you may place your hand here for a few moments.
To connect more with the gentle rising and falling of the abdomen as you follow the natural flow of the breath.
Being fully alive to the sensations of breathing for the full duration of each in-breath and the full duration of each out-breath.
Perhaps even noticing the slight pause between the in-breath and the out-breath.
And remaining curious about how you sense your breath at this time.
There is no need to control the breath in any way.
Simply letting the breath breathe itself.
As you go along with this practice you will notice that your mind will wander away from the breath.
To thinking,
Planning,
Remembering,
Worrying or daydreaming.
So when you do notice that your awareness is no longer on the breath,
Simply noting where the mind had wandered off to.
Then gently bringing it back to rest on the breathing sensations in the abdomen.
So continuing with this practice in silence and reminding yourself that the intention is simply to be aware of your experience in each moment.
Coming back to the breath whenever the mind wanders.
As your anchor in the present moment.
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