Welcome dear friends,
It's Mark here.
Thank you for joining this meditation.
We are going to be doing a breast meditation which is the foundational practice for just about every meditation that there is.
It's a practice to calm the mind and to increase our focus,
Which is so important in daily life,
To regulate one's nervous system and bring us back to a place of homeostasis.
Choosing a comfortable seat,
You may choose a cross-legged position or sitting on a chair even with two feet firmly on the ground,
Making sure that your back is nice and straight,
Your shoulders relaxed,
Your hands on your lap or on your knees and just dropping the chin slightly and if you like you can lower your gaze or close your eyes.
Let us enjoy three deep breaths as we start this practice,
Breathing in through the nose and slowly exhaling with control out the nostrils.
Good,
Once again breathing in through the nose,
Slowly again exhaling out the nostrils with control.
Last big breath in through the nose,
Opening the mouth and gently sigh the breath out.
Good,
Coming now to a normal breath breathing through the nose if you can,
A natural breath,
Turning your focus now to the inhalation and exhalation gently and softly.
We may have many thoughts going on and emotions,
Thinking of our to-do list or the next thing or perhaps memories of the past,
What happened earlier today or in the last week,
Month,
Year or lifetime.
Peace is found in the present moment and in this moment we are breathing.
Bring your attention now just to your breath,
Follow the inhalation and exhalation,
The cooler air coming in and the warmer air going out.
Breathing in,
I know that I'm breathing in.
Breathing out,
I know that I'm breathing out.
You may experience distractions whether external or internal.
The mind may wonder and when it does we just gently bring it back to our breath and we just do this again and again and again and every time we do this we are building our ability to stay present,
To focus.
We're in a world of digital distraction and so many external distractions.
To focus and to be calm is a revolution of mental health.
Gently,
Softly,
Your breath in the now.
There is nowhere to go and nothing else to do but just to stay present with this incredible process of life.
Your breath gives you sustenance,
Something wonderful,
Remarkable about this process.
The aim of this is not to clear your mind but to celebrate how you recover as you come back to the breath every time.
This is true resilience and as you do so you are building your brain in the prefrontal cortex.
We call this the mechanics of mindfulness.
The mind moves and we bring it back.
Where is your mind?
With non-judgment and open-heartedness we return again and again.
We conclude this practice with one more final deep breath in through the nose and sigh the breath out.
Gently lifting the chin and opening the eyes and thanking yourself for showing up today for your mental health.
Every day we brush our teeth and if we can do this practice every day this is like a mental floss for your mind and your brain.
This is doing the work dear friends so congratulate yourself once again and make of this a daily practice.
Thank you for joining me today.
Wishing you well,
Happiness,
Health,
Safety and peace.
