This guided meditation session will begin with a bell.
During the ringing of the bell,
Take a moment to sit comfortably in an upright position and calm your body.
Begin with your eyes open,
Holding a soft focus in the mid distance.
Become aware of the space around you.
Now still with your eyes open,
Take a deep breath in through your nose,
Deep into your belly and out through your mouth.
Do this two or three times.
As you're breathing in,
Focus on the air passing through your nostrils expanding in your chest.
And as you breathe out,
Focus on muscles throughout your body relaxing.
Breathing in,
The expansion of the chest.
Breathing out,
The softening and relaxing of muscles throughout your body.
With your next out breath,
Allow your breath to regain its normal vision and if you haven't already,
Simply allow your eyes to close.
As your breath returns to normal,
Recognize the feelings that are present in your body.
Contact of your feet with the floor,
Your weight on the chair,
Your hands and arms resting on your legs,
Perhaps the touch of your clothing on your skin.
You can also pay attention to any sounds which are present around you.
Begin with the sounds that are closest to you and then reach out your awareness to sounds much further away.
Now bring your attention back to your body.
Be aware of how your body is feeling.
What is your emotional state?
Are you feeling heavy or light?
Are you feeling still or restless?
And you can begin by focusing your attention on the top of your head and gently scanning down through your body down to your toes.
It may help you to visualize a light scanning down your body as you do this.
Try not to focus on any one particular part of your body or to change anything that you are feeling.
Simply become aware of the feelings within your body at this time.
So as you scan down,
Simply note what is present at this moment without thinking about why this might be so.
If your mind should wander during this process or your mind should be caught up in thoughts that you are having,
Simply note that fact and return to the scan that you are undertaking.
Don't try to push thoughts away,
Allow them to pass and don't follow them.
Then return to the scan and noting how your body is feeling.
Once you have completed that scan,
Draw your attention once again to your breathing.
Bring your attention to the natural rise of your chest as you breathe in and breathe out.
Recognize the sensation of air as it draws into and fills your diaphragm.
Recognize the sensation of air as it leaves your body.
Bring your awareness to rest on that sensation of air entering and air leaving your body.
Again,
Thoughts may arise during this awareness,
Simply allow them to pass.
If it helps you,
You can count as you are breathing,
One on the in-breath,
Two on the out-breath,
Up to ten and then begin again with number one.
If you find you have been distracted by thoughts,
Simply come back to your breathing and pick up again counting from number one.
Come back to your breathing again.
If you find you have been distracted by thoughts,
Simply come back to your breathing and pick up again counting from number one.
Remember that your mind will wander,
It is perfectly normal for thoughts to arise,
However simply choose not to follow your thoughts and as soon as you become aware of a distraction return your awareness to your breathing.
As we approach the end of this guided meditation let go of any focus that you have on your body or your breathing,
Simply allow your mind to be free to do whatever it feels that it needs to do.
If you feel you want to follow a thought you've been having that's fine.
Give your mind freedom.
Draw your attention now back to your body and to the immediate physical sensations you're aware of.
The weight of your body on the chair,
The touch of your clothing,
Perhaps the touch of your clothing on your skin,
Maybe you can hear some sounds close to you,
Be aware of your current space.
This guided meditation will finish with two bells,
Try to focus on listening to the bell until you can no longer hear a sound and then gently open your eyes when you are ready.
