Who footballer?
So firstly,
Just noticing what it's like to pause.
What's the texture of the posture that you're in just now?
The shape of the body?
The desire of the breathing body,
So breath.
And then very gently beginning to direct awareness to the very top of the head.
Just any sensations there,
Noticing them.
You might find it helpful here to also notice the connection with the sky,
So aware of the sky above us.
Inviting the skull to reach upwards towards that sky.
And then bringing awareness to the sides and back of the head,
Noticing any sensations there.
Desire of the ears letting in sounds.
Starting to block out here,
Just allowing sounds to arise and pass in their own way.
How's that feel?
Aware of any sensations in the face,
Particularly around the jaw.
In the area of the temples,
The forehead.
Noticing if there's any tension here.
I'm just inviting a sense of softness and opening in the face.
And then aware of the throat,
Often a place of holding.
So just breathing into the throat.
Any sensations here.
Aware of the shoulders,
Tops of the shoulders,
Backs of the shoulders.
Inviting them to fall down and away from the ears.
And then just taking some time to bring awareness to the arms,
Starting at the upper arms and moving down.
Through to the lower arms,
Wrists,
Hands,
Fingertips.
Taking in any sensations here.
And then dropping awareness into the whole of the torso.
And then we'll just spend a bit of time noticing the rib cage,
Expanding and contracting the breath.
This is probably most obvious in the front of the body.
You can also get curious about the sensations in the side and back of the body.
So we have a 360 degree sense of the breathing body here.
Not noticing any other sensations in the back,
Middle back,
The lower back.
Any sensations in the abdomen,
Lower belly.
Becoming aware of the sitting bones and the whole of the pelvis rooted in the seat.
Not noticing any sensations where the buttocks comes into contact with cushions or chair.
See if you can't give the weight of the body up a little bit more to gravity here.
Truly trusting the earth to hold you in this place.
Aware of the legs coming out of the hips.
Noticing any sensations in the thighs,
The knees and the lower legs.
Ankles,
Feet,
Toes.
And for a little while.
So noticing the contact here with the cushions,
The chair,
The floor,
The ground.
Allowing those sensations to connect to you with the qualities of the earth.
Stillness.
Steadiness.
The goodness of the earth.
The goodness of the earth.
And for the next few breaths,
Just beginning to broaden awareness to include the whole body breathing.
Allowing sensations to come and go in this whole field of awareness we call the body.
Breathing with those sensations.
And then beginning to gather awareness up around the breath itself.
You can imagine this is like narrowing the focus of a camera lens,
Starting to get very curious and interested in sensations of breathing.
And just a few tips on how we can do this so we might get interested in the temperature of the air as it comes and goes.
The depth of the breath.
The length or duration.
You're curious about certain qualities of the breath.
If it feels jittery or smooth.
How's it changing.
Where can it be felt.
How is it.
How's it.
So by this point in the meditation you'll have noticed that it's very easy to get caught up in thoughts.
Forgetting about the body forgetting about the breath.
So the invitation is to wake up in that moment,
Noticing that you've been taken away and just coming back very gently very simply.
Picking up the thread of the breath again.
Inviting yourself to be here again.
How is it.
Each time we come back we're inviting the mind and the breath to become absorbed in each other.
Seeing if the breath can be that interesting.
How is it.
How is it.
What's happening now.
If you notice distraction just come back very simply very gently.
How is it.
How is it.
How is it.
How is it.
How is it.
How is it.
How is it.
Just take a moment to notice how much effort you're putting in.
If it feels like you're putting in a bit too much effort you might want to lean back in the posture take a deep breath,
Maybe widen out the awareness to the whole body.
And then very gently just coming close to the breath,
Without needing to pry anything open.
Trusting that awareness can find the breath and stay with it in its own way its own time.
If it feels like your efforts a bit too loose too vague.
Again,
Maybe just taking a deep breath this time might want to sit up a bit straighter in the posture,
Maybe do a little wiggle to wake up the body a bit,
And then settling back in and connecting back again with the breath.
Inviting a sense of sharpening up,
But with kindness with warmth.
And interest,
Bringing interest all that always curiosity.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
For the last moments of this meditation I just want to encourage you to drop any effort you're making you can now lean back a bit in the posture if you'd like,
You could put the hands palm up in the lap you could even open the eyes gently.
And just encouraging a very broad open awareness here.
And an opportunity to just absorb the benefits of the practice and really just letting in what's happened,
Whatever's happened.
There,
Once again of sounds coming and going,
Temperature in the room,
Air against the skin sense of people sat with you here.
And always the ground aware of the ground holding us.
Okay.
