Hello everyone,
Welcome to our session for today.
Today we'll explore the idea of the breath and the breath as a bridge between two worlds,
Our physical world,
Our world of form and this formless world,
This very subtle world.
We'll explore how the breath and time interact and how we can start to slow down time or our perception of time with our use of the breath.
So let's sit up tall,
You can roll your shoulders back,
Elongate your spine or you could be laying down,
Find a way to position your body that your breath can move fluidly to the chest and the belly.
And start to notice wherever you are,
Maybe you just got out of a big day or you're exhausted or you're fresh.
Start to notice that without even trying your breath flows in and out.
Start to notice if it's a long breath or somewhat short breaths without needing to alter anything just to recognize.
Ah,
This is my natural state right now.
After witnessing where we are naturally,
Start to recognize how this very subtle breath,
This formless breath enters the body and moves the form.
That this oxygen,
This life force that in so many ways fuels our body is right in front of us all the time.
We just can't see it but we can feel it.
As the breath comes in and out,
Start to notice how the body moves.
Without controlling anything,
Notice the rib cage,
The kidneys and the lower back,
How they expand and contract.
Perhaps even noticing the slight movement of your hands and your arms as your shoulders rise and fall and how that affects the connection between your hands and your legs.
See how far you can notice the breath in your body.
To really witness how it travels through the entire being,
The entire vehicle that we live in.
Let's start to extend the breath so we can direct it into the belly first and expand the belly.
Notice how much deeper the breath can get without straining,
Just bringing an intention into the belly.
Notice the simplicity of directing the air.
We just have to intend.
We just have to bring our awareness to a certain space in the body and the flow of oxygen naturally goes there.
Move our awareness now from the belly to the lower back and see if we can bring life force into the lower back and expand the lower rib.
Notice how the body changes,
Just with simple awareness.
We direct our attention to the ribs,
The front ribs as the breath expands the rib cage.
How does the body change?
How do the movements change?
We do the same with the back ribs,
The upper back.
See if we can expand the upper back just by moving our awareness.
Where awareness goes,
Energy flows.
And now see if we can do them all at once as we bring the air to the belly,
Lower back,
And rib.
And in this process start to notice a letting go of time.
Notice that as we drop deeper into the present moment,
The present moment gets more spacious.
Perhaps the mind clears just a little bit more.
As the body expands and slows,
The quality and the depth of each moment expands and slows and deepens.
As if the air were thickening.
The breath,
This bridge between worlds,
Flows in and out.
The deeper the breath,
The slower time appears.
The more we let go of time.
Until the next few moments we ask the question,
What would it look like if it didn't really matter what time it was?
That just for the next few moments we had nowhere to be in the entire world.
That it was all happening right now.
What would that look like?
These three breaths start to conclude our practice as we sit in this subtleness that we've created.
Now where to be?
We take a deep inhale together.
And rest in the exhale.
Deep inhale.
And rest.
What are you infusing your breath with as you move through the day?
You can choose to infuse every moment with freedom,
With love,
With compassion,
With determination.
What are you infusing the moment with?
The enlightened in me sees and honors the enlightened in each and every one of you.
Thank you for your practice.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for letting go of time.
Namaste.
