Start by getting as comfortable as we can and we'll gently close our eyes.
Kind of collect all of our attention together.
By noticing the breath,
We'll take a deep breath in through the nose,
Really filling up those lungs.
And as you begin to exhale,
See if you can notice that physical quality of the breath letting go.
And then we'll take another deep breath in.
This time when we get to the top,
I just want you to hold it for a moment.
We're holding it,
Maybe initially it feels good.
And then we start to notice that that breath is not serving us,
So we gently let it go,
Just noticing that letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go.
And now we'll let our breath just go back to its natural cycle,
Its natural rhythm.
And we notice if we don't get involved,
If we don't try to force the moment or the breath to be any which way,
It does fine on its own,
Settling.
Let's mindfully check in and see how relaxed we are this morning.
So to start,
I want you to just focus on the right half of your body.
And as you breathe in,
You may notice that that right side rises.
You may feel some tingling on the right side of your face,
Hands,
And feet may feel this vibrational quality.
And as you exhale,
Really,
Again,
Notice that sense of letting go.
See if you can notice that sense of letting go on each of your out breaths.
Gathering all that attention will shift to the left half of the body.
And the same thing,
We're noticing as we breathe in that left side may rise.
You may feel sensations in the left foot,
Some awareness or vibrational quality,
Some awareness in the left arm and left hand.
And as you exhale,
Notice that sense of releasing,
Settling,
And letting go.
And we can bring some awareness to the top half of the body.
You may notice on the inhale,
The torso lengthen.
And this time as you exhale,
Almost imagining that there's this wave of relaxation that starts at the very top of your head.
And that wave spreads all the way across the top of your shoulders,
The chest,
The abdomen,
All the way out your feet.
And bringing some awareness to the back half of the body.
You may feel some pressure between yourself and the seat.
And on each exhale,
Just noticing how you physically feel on the back half of the body.
And now let's include all of the sides.
And the next inhale will bring in the front,
The back,
The left,
And the right side.
So breathing in through the body as a whole.
And as you exhale,
Really noticing,
Practicing that sense of letting go,
Letting go,
Letting go.
And we'll turn our attention to our core practice,
Focusing on the breath in the body.
And this time focusing on the breath in a slightly different way.
I want you to see if you can notice where you feel the breath the strongest.
Keeping in mind that for most of us,
It tends to reside either in the nostrils,
The chest,
Or the abdomen.
So just for a moment,
I want you to gather all of that wild static energy,
All of our attention.
We'll place it right at the tip of our nose.
And see if you can really notice with that childlike wonder,
The air as you pull it in through the nostrils.
See if you can really feel it resonate in that space.
Noticing the exhale.
And some mornings,
My attention's all over the place.
I find it hard,
Or abstract rather,
To focus on the breath in this way.
So sometimes if I need a little extra help,
I'll think in as I breathe in and out as I breathe out.
Again,
Just a little mantra to help anchor my attention in the nose.
Let's move our attention to our chest now.
And the same thing,
Noticing as we breathe in,
The chest will rise.
We exhale,
The chest falls and settles into that relaxation quality.
We're still trying to tap into that relaxation quality.
Again,
If I need a little help in this area,
I'll think rise as I breathe in and fall as I breathe out.
Something to keep my attention in the chest center stage.
For a moment,
We can bring our awareness,
Our attention to the abdomen,
Noticing as we breathe in how the abdomen will fill.
