Hello and welcome to this brief mindfulness breathing exercise.
Breathing infinity.
I should say at the beginning that this is going to involve some quite deep breathing so if you are aware that you have a condition where this is not advisable or if any time during this exercise you start to feel light-headed then you should probably stop.
Otherwise I think it's perfectly safe.
We're going to begin by adopting a comfortable position.
Grounding ourselves,
So having contact with the ground.
Being aware of the contact that we have with the seat that we're sitting on.
Being aware of the pressure of our arms on our lap or on the arm of a chair.
And we're going to take one or two slow deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
And when you're ready you can gently allow your eyes to close.
And I would invite you to take a deep breath in to the count of three.
Two,
Three and breathe out to the count of four.
Two,
Three,
Four.
And a deep breath in to the count of four.
Two,
Three,
Four.
And out to the count of five.
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
And in to the count of five.
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
And out to the count of six.
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
In for the count of six.
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
And out for the count of seven.
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
In for the count of seven.
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
And out for the count of eight.
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
And now just take a gentle deep breath in and relax that breath as your breathing returns to its normal rate.
We're now going to maintain a focus on our breathing through a simple visualisation exercise.
I'd like you to visualise in your mind's eye the symbol for infinity.
And if you're not familiar with that symbol,
It's a figure eight,
Perhaps a little elongated,
Lying on its side.
And what I'd like you to do with each in breath is visualise a light or your breath itself moving around the infinity sign and continuing with each out breath moving around the infinity sign.
Let's try that for a few breaths.
And you'll notice that the infinity sign here is the focus of the mindfulness practice.
Keeping your attention on the movement of your breath around and around the infinity sign replaces the attention you might normally place on your breath entering and leaving your body.
And just as with any mindfulness meditation,
You will become distracted by thoughts,
By sounds,
By feelings.
And this is perfectly acceptable.
It's a positive thing for each time you find yourself distracted,
You're given an opportunity to notice that distraction and to gently guide your mind back to its concentration upon the moving breath around and around the infinity sign.
Each time you catch your feelings or thoughts wandering,
Gently guide them back to the movement of breath around the infinity sign.
.
.
.
.
.
As you notice your attention wander,
As it will,
Simply guide yourself back to your visualised sign of infinity and your breathing circulating around it.
And I would invite you now to take one very deep breath in through the nose.
Release that breath,
Release the image of the infinity sign,
Relax into your normal breathing rhythm.
You can begin to move your head,
Perhaps twist your neck from side to side,
Wriggle your fingers,
Wriggle your toes,
And when you're ready you can gently open your eyes.
Of course you can use this mindfulness meditation on its own for a brief grounding moment during the day or you can use it as an introduction to a longer session that you continue on your own.
Thank you for sharing this time with me today and I hope that you have enjoyed the admittedly unintentional bird song as a backing to this meditation track.
Thank you once again.
