Following the breath.
When you're comfortable,
Close your eyes and take your awareness to your chest.
Feel the gentle rise and fall of your belly and your chest when you breathe in and breathe out.
Stay focused on your breath as you now close your mouth and breathe only through your nose.
You may wish to count up to four on the in-breath and up to four on the out-breath.
Be mindful to keep your breath steady and even.
Nice and steady and slow.
Experience what happens as you slow everything down and focus only on your breath.
Let your shoulders drop.
As you continue to breathe in this way,
Now allow waves of relaxation to travel from the crown at the top of your head,
Down through your body,
All the way to your legs,
Ankles and out through your feet.
It's probably easiest if you do that on the out-breath.
And relax.
Relax as you find a rate and a rhythm of breathing that's easy and comfortable for you to do.
And of course you can open your mouth at this time if that's better for you.
Still follow the pattern of your breath.
Breathing in,
Breathing out in a relaxed and easy manner.
Now focus only on what happens when you breathe in.
Experience the expansion of the ribcage,
The muscles there,
Contracting to pull the ribcage wider,
To fill the lungs.
Your belly might expand a little with each in-breath.
And occasionally we take a very deep breath that reaches to the bottom of our lungs and all the way up to our shoulders.
And relax.
Now focus your attention on the out-breath,
Only on the out-breath.
Experience the muscles between the ribs as they relax and the ribcage comes back to its starting position.
It's on the out-breath that we relax and our shoulders drop.
It's on the out-breath that the relaxation travels through our body and we let go a little bit more with each breath out.
Breathe out and relax.
Breathe out to let go.
And now I want to draw your attention to something that happens after the out-breath.
There seems to be a pause that we don't consider.
So we breathe in,
We breathe out and then there's a tiny pause.
Experience that now.
Ask yourself,
Where does that pause reside?
For some of us it's in our belly.
For others it's in the chest.
Maybe it's in the neck,
The throat or the head for you.
Wherever that pause resides,
Go there now.
During this short,
Quiet period,
Allow yourself to sink down into that pause.
As you disengage your mind and enjoy a sense of deep relaxation and peace.
Relax and I will come back for you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It's time to come back from the pause.
So breathe deeply,
Exhale fully and completely and then breathe deeply again.
Lifting your awareness back to the place where you sit.
With each breath in,
Your mind becomes clearer and more alert and you're ready to tackle the day ahead.
Stretch,
Wiggle your fingers,
Yawn if you need to and when you're ready,
Open your eyes.
Namaste.
