Good morning,
I'm Stephen Webb,
And wherever you are right now,
Whether you are sitting up in bed,
Sat at the kitchen table,
Or on your cushion,
It really doesn't matter but just allow your body to settle into this moment.
Allow your body to relax.
Your body knows how to relax.
And just bring your attention to your breath,
Your body knows how to breathe,
And we're just bringing ourselves right to this moment.
Notice your face,
Notice your nose and your ears,
Your jaw,
And as you notice,
Just allow them to relax.
Allow your head,
And your neck,
And your shoulders to relax,
And your arms,
And your hands,
Down through the rest of your body,
All the way down to your toes,
And as you're allowing your body to relax,
Just keep your awareness on your breath.
At the moment there's nowhere you need to get to this morning,
There's nothing you need to achieve in the next few minutes,
You're just here,
And that's enough,
This moment has everything you need.
And as your body is breathing,
I just want you to notice that,
Not change your breath in any special way,
Think of all the times your breath has known how to breathe without you getting involved,
And you feel the air come in,
And feel it go out.
Notice where you feel it most,
Maybe the nose,
Maybe the chest,
Maybe it's just the belly rising and falling,
Or wherever that is,
Just rest your attention there,
And this breath is yours,
It's personal,
It's private,
Nobody else in the world is breathing this exact same breath as you right now,
Just you,
And this little rhythm keeps you alive moment after moment,
And without asking anything of you in return,
You may find your mind is already busy this morning,
Already running through the day,
Already solving problems,
It's already worrying,
That's just what the mind does in the morning,
You don't have to stop it,
Just notice it.
And now just come back to your breath,
It's always here,
And now without losing your breath,
I want you to gently widen your attention just a little,
Notice the space around you,
The room you're in,
The air in the room,
The same air your body is drawing in and letting go.
You don't have to look around you or think about it,
Just feel the room,
The walls,
The ceiling,
The quiet of it all,
Or maybe the noise of it,
Whatever it is,
It's the space that's holding you this morning,
Maybe there's a pet curled up somewhere in the room,
Notice that they're breathing too,
Their own quiet rhythm going on alongside yours,
You don't have to do anything with that,
Just notice it,
Just two of these rhythms in the same space,
Breathing together without even trying.
And now let's go a little further,
Beyond this room there are other rooms,
Other people waking up this morning,
The person next door,
The family across the street,
Someone a few roads away putting on their kettle,
They're rubbing their eyes and checking the time,
They're all breathing,
Right now this same morning air,
Moving in and out of their lungs just like you,
You don't have to hold all of that,
You can feel it just for a moment,
That your breath is not separate from all of that,
It never was,
You're part of something that is happening everywhere,
Right now,
All at once.
The practice itself doesn't make the breath different,
The practice is to stay with it anyway,
To breathe with it,
Not against it.
At some point today you're going to step out of this quiet into the world,
You're going to encounter people,
The person at the shop,
A colleague,
Someone on the bus,
A stranger walking the other way on a pavement,
Maybe even someone that annoys you,
And here's the thing I want you to carry with you,
Not as a thought but as something you feel within your body right now,
Every single one of those people woke up this morning just like you did,
They opened their eyes,
They felt the weight of the day ahead,
They breathed in,
They carry hopes that they don't talk about,
They carry fears that keep them up at night,
They have a body that's tired,
A mind that gets loud,
A heart that has been broken more than once,
You don't have to do anything with that,
You don't have to become a kinder person by trying harder,
Just knowing it,
Feeling it,
That's enough.
And now one more widening,
The last one,
Right now as you sit here the whole world is breathing,
Not just people,
Birds outside your window are also breathing,
Trees are exchanging air in their own slow way,
Animals in fields,
Insects in the grass,
Fish putting oxygen through the water,
The whole world is involved in this single continuous act of taking in and letting go,
You are part of all of that,
Not in a poetic decorative sense,
Actually physically part of it,
Your breath is not yours alone,
It never was,
The air you just took in has been everywhere,
It's passed through other lungs,
Other leaves,
Other lives,
And when you let it go,
It goes back,
It becomes part of everything again,
So just for a moment let yourself feel that,
Not think it,
Feel it,
You are breathing with everything,
Everything is breathing with you,
And now gently let the wideness go,
Come back to your own breath,
Your own lungs,
Your own chest,
Rising and falling,
This space,
This body,
This room,
But notice something has shifted,
You haven't lost what you found out there,
The breath you are breathing now is the same one connected to all,
But you know now,
You are never only breathing alone,
So as you come back to this morning,
Start to feel your fingers and toes,
Start to hear the sounds around you,
Just take a breath,
A slow one,
And all that that breath carries with it,
The room,
The street,
The strangers,
The animals,
The whole breathing world,
And when you are ready,
Just gently open your eyes.
So I'm Stephen Webb and thank you for your support.
