This is for somebody who has just begun their meditation journey.
So for this practice,
It doesn't matter where you sit or how you sit as long as your feet are not left dangling.
So if you're sitting on the floor,
That's fine.
But if you're sitting on a chair or a sofa,
Ensure that your feet are touching the ground.
Your seat,
Whatever you're sitting on,
That seat and your own body seat,
Which is made of your sitting bones,
Your hips.
Your seat should be comfortably on the seat you're on.
And for a few moments,
Allow yourself to bring all of your awareness to the contact between your body seat and the seat that you're on.
If your feet are on the ground,
Then also bring awareness to the contact between your feet and the ground below.
And feeling the support from beneath the feet,
From the ground and beneath your seat,
From the seat you're on.
You may now choose to close your eyes or just softly gaze a little ahead on the ground below.
Not particularly at anything,
But just letting your eyes settle so that your mind can go inside within you.
If you have your eyes closed,
Then that's fine.
As you look inwards,
Bring all of your awareness to your breath.
The breath coming in and the breath moving out.
For a few moments,
Just notice this breath coming in,
Going out.
Become aware of where you're noticing this breath.
Is it near the nostrils?
Is it in the up and down of the chest?
Is it in the rising and falling of the belly or somewhere else?
Where is it that you tend to notice the breath in the body?
Wherever it is for you,
From there,
Now bring all of your awareness to this breath that goes in and comes out and touches around the nostrils.
As you breathe in,
You'll find the breath moving through the nostrils and as you witness,
You may be able to feel the air passing through the nostrils,
The entry of the nostrils.
Then similarly,
As you breathe out,
You'll feel this air touch the entry of the nostrils once again as you exhale.
Notice the nature of this breath in this moment.
And notice,
As you become aware of this breath in this small area around your nostrils,
What happens to the rest of you.
It's as if there's a sudden pause,
Some sort of a calm,
Some sort of a quietness.
See how that feels in the body.
Almost as if a sense of being okay.
Where in this body do you feel this sense that I am okay,
It is okay.
Allow this awareness to now move towards your chest.
And as you breathe in,
Allow the air to expand your chest,
Gently easing in,
Opening it up.
And then as you exhale,
You don't have to do anything,
As you exhale,
The chest just falls down.
Again as you inhale,
Allow the air to open you up,
To ease in,
To expand your being.
And as you exhale,
It again falls back.
Do this for a few moments now.
Now bring this awareness down to your belly.
And notice how as you breathe in,
The belly goes up,
Rises,
And as you breathe out,
The belly falls.
And with the next breath as the belly rises,
Allow it to rise softly like a baby's,
Loosening the muscles in the belly,
And it falls again,
Plop,
Like a baby's.
Just loosening all the muscles around the belly,
And gently,
Deeply,
Breathing in,
And out,
And once again,
Breathing in,
Letting it rise,
And out.
And now,
Bringing all of your awareness back to the seat that you're on,
Feeling the contact between your seat and the seat you're on.
And allowing yourself to feel this body through the pelvic floor,
This entire bowl of the pelvic area,
The hips,
The sitting bones that you're on.
Bring back awareness to the room that you're in.
Notice the air in the room,
Touching your skin.
Notice any sounds,
Any smells.
And slowly as you feel ready,
Open your eyes.
