Welcome to the three-stage breathing space.
This is a simple practice you can do at any point during the day to help ground yourself in the present moment and find some space during the busyness of the day.
And so starting off now by adopting a seated position that is upright,
Allowing your spine to be self-supporting if possible,
And closing your eyes if that feels comfortable,
Or if you prefer,
Leaving your eyes open and having a soft gaze out in front of you.
Gathering your attention now and becoming aware of any bodily sensations.
Not trying to change anything,
Just becoming aware of what is already here.
Simply feeling into your posture,
You might notice some aches,
Some pains,
Or perhaps even some tension that you might wish to let go of.
You may even notice some pleasant sensations too.
Just seeing if you can allow whatever arises just to be there,
Just for now.
And then turning your attention to any emotions that are present right now,
Perhaps even asking yourself,
How am I feeling at the moment?
You might notice emotions are being held in your heart area,
Or the belly area,
Or somewhere else in the body,
And again,
Just allowing them to be there,
Just for now.
And then becoming aware of any thoughts that may or may not be passing through your mind at the moment.
Perhaps even noticing the space between thoughts,
Or maybe even how the mind goes quiet when you pay attention to your thoughts.
And so simply becoming aware of your thoughts rather than getting caught up in them,
And just allowing thoughts to come and go.
And now gathering your attention and taking it to your belly,
The lower abdomen,
Just noticing the sensations here as you breathe in and breathe out.
Perhaps noticing the stretching of the skin around the abdomen on the in-breath,
And the gentle release on the out-breath.
You don't need to change the rhythm of your breathing.
Simply becoming aware of the natural flow in a kind and curious way.
If your mind wanders away,
Simply acknowledging where it went and gently guiding your attention back to the breath.
And now expanding your awareness around the breath in the belly to include your body as a whole,
Breathing.
And just being aware of whatever is here,
The breath,
The sensations across your face,
The posture,
Any sensations in the body.
Just getting a wider awareness of your body as a whole from your outer skin to your centre on the breath.
Just sitting here with a sense of broad awareness,
A sense of spaciousness,
And seeing if you can take this sense of openness,
This sense of spaciousness into your next moments and perhaps throughout the rest of the day as you gently open your eyes and bring this practice to a close.
