Beginning your meditation practice in a comfortable seated position,
The legs crossed or extended,
Allowing the spine to lengthen.
Ground into the earth with your tailbone,
Extending upwards along the spinal column,
Feeling the back of the neck lining up with the spine and the chin just softly tucked and lengthening upward through the crown of your head towards the healing white light above you.
Rest your hands softly on your knees,
Palms,
Facing upwards,
Bringing the thumb and the first finger together and allow those shoulders to soften downward from the ears,
The neck soft,
Separating the lips to release the jaw,
Feeling the back of the tongue resting to the roof of the mouth.
Soften your gaze and feel the corners of the eyes turning upwards in a very gentle smile from the inside.
Feel the forehead soften,
Your scalp,
And just allow yourself now to feel the softness within you and draw the awareness to your breath,
The inhale and the exhale through the nose.
Be the awareness of your breath in this moment.
Eyes softly closed,
Breathe in through the nose and mentally count the length of your inhale and with the next exhale the same,
Mentally count the length of the out breath.
Now whichever was shorter in count,
Extend to equal the longer part and start to breathe with a balanced breath.
Equal counts,
Inhalation to exhalation.
By breathing with a balanced breath,
We encourage balance in our body,
Our mind,
Which is in every cell of our body.
And as you breathe in,
Being the awareness of your breath,
Feel the coolness of the air as it enters your nostrils.
Feel the lungs expand,
Lifting away from your side floating ribs,
Breathing into the upper and lower of your abdomen.
And as you release the air slowly,
Entirely,
Just feel the natural contraction of your abdomen,
The lungs.
Continue breathing into the whole of your torso,
Lungs expansive,
Then the abdomen and just gently releasing,
Contracting entirely abdomen and then the lungs.
If your mind starts to wander into thought,
Bring it back to your breathing very gently,
No judgment.
Come back into the coolness of the air as it enters your nose.
Come back to the count of your breath,
The equal length inhalation to exhalation and feeling the expanse in your being with the in breath and the contraction with the out breath.
Feel the warmth of the air as it leaves your nostrils.
Continue being the awareness of your breath and focus on staying in the awareness of your breath.
The moment you feel the mind wander,
Gently bring it back to the breathing.
Come back into that rhythm of your breath,
That softness the breath creates in your body.
And now move a little deeper into your awareness of breathing.
Become aware of the space that's behind the breath.
The space that is your essence,
The calmness,
The peacefulness,
The spaciousness of your being that sits behind the breath.
It's formless,
It's timeless,
It's the essence of you.
Remembering to draw the awareness deeper beyond the breath to your essence,
To find that quiet place,
To be the truth of who you are,
To remember the truth of who you are.
And as you move into your daily life,
Whether the eyes are closed in meditation or open as you gaze out upon the world,
Being aware of the breath and that space behind the breath,
The peacefulness,
The calmness,
The essence.
Begin to bring the awareness back to the sounds that are outside this room.
Draw the awareness to sounds inside the room.
Come back to your hands,
Your feet,
Fingers and toes.
And just bring the hands now to heart center,
Resting the thumbs on your sternum,
Connecting into the heart energy of love,
Kindness and gratitude.
And from this place,
Wish yourself and all other living beings peace,
Love,
Free from suffering always.
Namaste.
