A guided meditation on the breath.
So begin as you always would do for a meditation practice,
Either sitting on a chair with your feet flat on the floor,
Hands resting on your knees,
Back away from the chair so that your back is long,
Crown extended up towards the ceiling.
If you prefer you can sit cross-legged on the floor or with your legs outstretched in front of you.
If your legs are outstretched in front of you,
You may like to take the feet further apart so there is a space between the knees and between the feet.
Whichever posture you're in,
Let your hands rest down on the knees or the lap,
Let the shoulders relax back and down,
Lift the crown up towards the ceiling so that the back is long and the chest is spacious and wide.
Feel into the base of your body now,
Make sure that your legs,
Your knees,
Your hips and ankles are completely comfortable.
Then bring your awareness to your breath.
Throughout this practice we're not seeking to control either the breath or what the mind is doing.
We're simply here to witness what occurs in the mind when we breathe naturally and as this awareness begins to build you may experiment with controlling the breath to different degrees,
Making it faster or slower,
Deeper or shallower and again just observing how the mind reacts.
So as we practice today also observe your feelings.
Begin first of all by allowing the whole of your focus to be on the natural breath.
So noticing whether you can feel the physical sensation of the breath in and out of the nostrils.
And noticing whether you can feel the temperature of the air as it enters your body.
Does it feel warm or cool?
And bringing your awareness now to the speed of your breath.
Does it feel slow or rapid?
And how about the quality of your breath?
Is it smooth and regular or are there any bumps or jerks?
Noticing whether there are any restrictions in your breath and if they are noticing where.
Remembering your awareness to the part of your body that moves when you breathe.
This indicates which part of your lungs you are using to breathe.
So if the upper chest moves as you breathe you're breathing into the upper lungs.
If the middle of the chest moves as you breathe then you're breathing into the middle of the lungs.
And if the abdomen moves as you breathe then you're breathing into the lower part of your lungs.
Notice whether you hold your breath after an inhalation or whether you pause between the inhalation and the exhalation.
And then bring your attention to the force of the breath.
Does it stay consistent or is it stronger at the beginning of each breath cycle?
And be aware now of the symmetry of your breathing.
Is your breath longer on the inhalation,
The exhalation or is it even throughout?
And now move your awareness out into the body.
Notice whether you feel energy moving with the breath into and out of the body circulating with the natural rhythm of your breath.
Do you visualize any light or colors in your body?
Do you feel that you are a part of the breath?
Do you feel that you are a part of the breath?
Do you feel that you are a part of the breath?
Do you find yourself floating?
What does a familiar saying or emotion come to mind?
And now sitting for a few moments and just noticing anything that arises as each moment arises.
And now bringing your awareness back to your body sitting on the floor or the chair.
Beginning to externalize your attention,
Noticing any sounds around you inside the room and outside the room.
Bringing the hands to prayer at the heart center and rubbing the hands firmly together,
Creating some warmth and energy in the palms.
And then placing the hands over your closed eyes,
Feeling the warmth from your palms seeping in through the eyelids into the eyes.
And begin to slowly open your eyes into the darkness of your hands.
Slowly spread the fingers wide and release the hands down away from the face.
You may like to pinch your cheeks with the index finger and thumb of each hand,
Just bringing some awareness back into the face.
You can take the fingers into light fists with the thumbs on the outside and just rub across the top of your scalp,
Just energizing the top of the head.
And you may like to practice some shoulder shrugs to release any tension in the shoulders.
I hope that you've enjoyed this practice.
Namaste.
