I invite you to close your eyes for this exercise if you are comfortable doing so.
If not,
Just allow your gaze to be soft.
As you breathe in,
Allow your belly to expand,
And then the breath can rise up into your lower rib cage and then your upper rib cage.
And on the exhale,
Reverse direction.
Chest falls first,
Belly button gently towards your spine last.
Continue to take nice,
Long,
Deep,
Relaxed breaths,
Keeping your exhale as long or longer as the inhale.
Take a comfortable seated position and relax your body.
As we do this mindfulness exercise,
You may find that your imagination,
Your thoughts will want to intrude with stories about the past or the future.
That's okay.
That's just what minds do to protect us,
Giving us stories to keep us alert.
For now,
Allow those thoughts to come and go without engagement or judgment.
Let them flow by as if you were the sky and the thoughts were clouds drifting across.
If you find yourself caught up in a story or a worry,
When you notice that that has happened,
Bring yourself back to this moment,
Maybe by bringing your attention back to your breath or to the sounds that you're listening to.
Return to this moment of nurturing your body and mind with self-compassion.
So allow everything that has happened before now to fall away and let go of everything that will happen after.
Bring yourself to this moment and begin to notice the sounds in this room.
And now bring your attention to any sounds you can hear beyond this room.
Notice the quality of the sounds.
Try to tune into the sounds without assigning meaning to them.
For example,
Don't identify if they are voices or breathing or music.
Just listen to the components that make up that sound.
Allow yourself to notice what it feels like to be a being who can hear sounds and continue to breathe as you notice what you can hear.
