Hello,
This is Jessie Taylor of the Mindfulness Center.
Thank you for joining me for this meditation and breath work practice.
After you have come into a comfortable seated or reclined position,
I invite you to close your eyes and let your awareness connect back inward with yourself and notice your breath.
Notice the rise and fall of the breath through the chest and the shoulders and the belly.
The way the breath knows how to move all on its own.
Begin now to take a deeper,
Slower,
And fuller breath,
Both in and out,
Through the nose.
With each inhale,
Feel the expansion through the lungs as they fill like a jug of water,
Slowly all the way to brimming.
And then equally slowly releasing the breath,
Exhaling through the nose as if pouring out a jug of water slowly,
Every last drop.
Continue with this deep breath.
At the end of each inhale,
Take a little extra sip of air,
Really filling the lungs.
And at the end of each exhale,
Engage the abdominals slightly,
Like squeezing a sponge to release every last drop,
Making plenty of room for the next inhale.
Continue for a few more rounds of this deep,
Full,
And cleansing breath.
Release each aspect of the breath as you do so,
As if savoring a bite of your favorite food.
And now release this technique,
Just letting the breath again flow all on its own,
But perhaps a bit more slowly and deeply now,
As you've given a little stretch to the breath,
Opened it up,
Opened up the passageways.
Good.
And I invite you to incorporate a little technique that I find helpful.
You can use this technique throughout the day or if the mind tends to wander during your meditation.
And just count your breath.
See whatever number you come to as you inhale,
And match that as you exhale.
And after you continue this for a few rounds,
You might be able to add a count of one or two as the breath deepens and the body relaxes.
Along with the flow of each deep,
Full breath,
Let your body sink more heavily and deeply into the embrace of the chair or the ground beneath you.
Feel the weight of your legs,
Your hips and lower back,
Relaxing into the support beneath you.
With another deep breath,
And with your exhale,
Feel the shoulders melt down away from your ears.
And through the nose,
Let the mouth hang open just slightly,
Relaxing through the jaw.
Let your awareness flow to the forehead,
The eyebrows,
The eyelids.
Notice what you see with the mind's eye,
Perhaps just the soft velvety blackness of the backs of the eyelids,
Or light or colors filtering through the eyelids,
Or images,
Creativity of the mind's eye.
The mind has a tendency to wander.
You can come back to the technique of counting your breath or simply notice whatever it is you might be thinking and even say to yourself,
Ah,
That's me thinking about whatever it may be.
By noticing the thought itself,
You take a step outside of it.
And with another deep breath,
Let the mind clear again.
And with your awareness of the rise and fall of each breath,
The weight of your body pressing down and the support of the ground and earth pressing back up to hold you right where you are.
Let your awareness also open to the experience of this moment and place.
Notice the sounds that might come to you.
Let them wash over you like each breath.
They come and go with each new moment.
Let yourself simply be in this moment of awareness and connection of the flow of your breath and its movement through your body.
Feeling of your body in this place at this time,
The sounds and indications of life around you.
As you're ready,
You can bring small movements to your fingers and toes,
Hands and feet as you get another exploration of your awareness,
An extension of your energy in this moment.
Perhaps notice the feeling of your toes inside your socks or shoes.
Bring your hands together and notice the touch of your fingertips against each other.
And another deep breath and let the hands and feet come still again.
And then bringing the movement back,
Begin to stretch your arms and legs with a deep breath,
Yawn as if awakening,
Sigh of relief,
Exhale.
Let the eyes begin to drift open slowly.
Just as you have taken in the sounds and the feelings,
Let the sights also wash over you.
Notice the lights,
The colors,
The quality of the shapes.
And when you're ready,
Slowly come to sitting fully upright.
I thank you for joining in this meditation and practice today.
