Let's begin by sitting comfortably.
Relax the shoulders.
Relax the neck.
Close the eyes if you haven't already.
Settle in and turn your attention inwards.
In this practice,
Our attention,
Our focus,
Will be on our breath.
Bring more attention to your natural rhythm of breathing.
See if you can be aware of both your inhale to completion and your exhale to completion.
With each breath,
Coming to the full extent of the inhale and the full extent of your exhale,
Without trying to change the breath too much,
Without trying to control it.
See if it naturally lengthens,
It naturally deepens,
With more attention,
With more awareness on each breath.
Not forcing the air out,
Pulling it in,
But giving it the space to move freely,
Naturally and deeply.
See if you can be aware of every part of the breath,
The beginning,
Middle,
And end of the inhale,
And the beginning,
Middle,
And end of the exhale.
And if it feels natural,
Comfortable,
Maybe adding a little pause at the top of the inhale.
Not a long hold,
But a moment of suspension,
Where the breath is stilled before the air moves again.
Either on the exhale or the inhale.
Pausing at the top of that inhale,
Pausing at the bottom of the exhale.
A relaxed moment of stillness before the air rushes in again,
Naturally,
Normally.
Imagine a swing,
And when you swing back,
There's a moment where you're suspended in the air,
Where the swing isn't moving,
And then it swings down.
And when you swing the other way,
A moment of suspension before the swing moves again.
See if you can find this with your breath,
The continuous cycle,
With the pause,
Before movement again.
And with each breath,
Maybe that pause,
That moment of suspension becomes a little longer,
Still comfortable,
But a little longer.
As the body relaxes,
The breath comes less urgently,
And the moments of stillness extend out a little longer.
And then maybe,
If it feels natural,
We let go of our concentrated awareness on our breath,
Letting it flow with the pauses in a natural way,
Allowing the stillness from the suspension of the breath to stay,
To extend outwards,
To extend so that you're resting in that stillness,
That existence,
That presence,
That beingness.
Remember,
You can stay in the practice as long as you'd like,
But when you feel ready,
Back to awareness focused on the breath.
Take deeper breaths,
Drawing in more oxygen,
And releasing more carbon dioxide.
But as you breathe,
In a gross way,
Keep a little awareness,
A little connection with that stillness,
That silence behind the breath.
Bringing your attention now to the base of your spine,
Where your sit bones connect with your seat,
Your mat,
Your chair.
Finally,
Maybe adding small movements back to the body to fully draw your attention back.
And when you feel ready,
Open your eyes.
Thank you.
