So settling in now for a brief awareness of breathing practice.
And you can do this lying down or seated in a chair,
On the floor,
On a cushion.
You may have thoughts flying through your mind,
Tasks.
On a checklist somewhere,
The back of your head,
That's okay.
Giving yourself a moment to arrive here.
And we simply start with noticing where we feel the breath in our body.
If you've never done this before.
You may want to simply see where you notice movement as you breathe.
Perhaps you notice the chest rising and falling.
For the belly.
Maybe the shoulders.
You may notice the cool air touching your nose as it enters the body.
Or its warmth as it leaves.
I'm just spending a few minutes observing.
The experience of the breath moving through your body now.
You'll notice we're not asking.
Breath to be different in any way or to hold it,
To slow it down.
We're taking on the role of observer right now.
Witnessing ourselves inhaling and exhaling.
And if at any point this becomes uncomfortable to experience,
Start to feel discomfort or unease.
It's okay to.
Settle back into the physical body,
Placing the hands on your lap.
Feeling into the ground with your feet.
If you've had your eyes closed,
Perhaps opening the eyes,
Allowing yourself to ground yourself with the.
Objects around you,
The room that you're in.
We're gently,
Not forcefully,
Befriending the breath here.
We take our time with it.
We're patient with it.
And when we're ready,
We can come back to observing the breathing.
If it's helpful,
You can mentally say to yourself,
I am breathing.
Or,
This is me breathing.
You're simply stating in as you inhale and out as you exhale.
This helps us keep our attention on the breath when the mind wants to wander off onto other thoughts or activities or tasks.
You may notice some urges to alter your breathing or perhaps some thoughts about the quality of your breathing.
Maybe you're wondering if you're breathing too fast.
Or not deep enough.
Recognizing that those thoughts are just taking away from your focus on the breath.
Just coming back to inhale and exhale,
What's happening right now.
This is me breathing right now.
And as we close this practice,
Maybe just allowing yourself to make some small movements.
Allowing sounds from around you to enter into your awareness.
Sensations of the body beyond the breath to enter into your awareness.
Recognizing you can return to this awareness of breath.
This very essence of life anytime you'd like.
And taking care.
Be well.
