Welcome to the Stillpoint Meditation.
Today's breath awareness practice is designed to help you to reset at work or at any other time you feel like you need to take a short break and just reset to yourself.
Let's start by finding our seat.
So feet are on the floor.
Allow the spine to be nicely supported by the back of a chair or a cushion.
Let the hands rest wherever feels comfortable.
Closing the eyes now and begin to draw yourself inwards.
Just spending these first few moments letting yourself settle into stillness.
Noticing how nice it feels to just sit quietly.
To give yourself this time and this space that's just for you.
And as you allow yourself to begin to descend into stillness a little bit more.
Bring your attention to the physical body.
And just start to notice how the body feels right now.
Any messages or signals you're being given.
And as you reconnect with the body.
Do you notice that there are areas where you feel a bit rigid?
You're holding onto tension,
Holding yourself tightly.
And can you consciously start to soften and to relax those areas?
Maybe around the face or the shoulders.
Through the belly,
The hips and the thighs.
Can you let yourself become a bit heavier in your seat?
Have the sense of really sinking into the weight of your bones.
And then feeling all of the muscles and the tissues that surround those bones let go as well.
And the sense of taking up more space physically.
Becoming more solid within yourself.
As your body relaxes with each moment you enjoy sitting.
And you've now become aware of the movement of the breath as it enters and leaves the body.
Your soft,
Natural breath.
Just noticing what it's like for you to breathe in.
And then observing what it's like to breathe out.
And then in the next few breaths there's a sense as you breathe in of you replenishing your energy reserves.
Filling yourself up.
As you breathe out there's a sense of untangling yourself from your day,
From your worries.
Just a little bit more.
Surrendering into quiet.
Now that we've established a connection with our natural breath we're going to begin to refine the focus a little more to draw ourselves even deeper into our internal experience.
We're going to focus on the different aspects of the breath and use that as an anchor to help us to stay present,
To stay connected.
So I'd like you to start by drawing your attention to the inhale part of your breath.
Let yourself become completely absorbed by the inhalation.
Together.
As you begin to descend a little more deeply into a state of relaxation,
Of meditation,
The mind may begin to throw off some of the stress of the day in the form of thought.
If you're finding yourself getting swept away by the busy thinking mind,
That's alright.
Just kindly redirect your focus back to the inhale for a few more moments.
Gently letting that go.
Now we're going to redirect our focus to the exhale.
Let your whole awareness come to rest on the out-breath.
Be curious about what this feels like.
Noticing if it's a little more easy for you or if it takes a bit more effort.
There's no right or wrong.
Just being curious about what this aspect of the breath feels like.
Again,
If you notice that you've become distracted by thought,
Just redirect your focus back to the out-breath.
Taking a few more moments,
Noticing the journey of the exhalation in the body.
Now we're going to let our awareness become absorbed by both parts of the breath together.
Feeling the inhale as it arises in the body and then travel along the exhale.
As you feel yourself becoming drawn further and further into each breath,
Notice that at the end of the inhale,
There's a slight pause before the exhale begins.
At the top of the exhale,
There's a gap before the inhale arises.
We're going to let our awareness become absorbed by both parts of the breath.
Gently letting the awareness of the breath go.
Let yourself sit in stillness for a few moments,
Just noticing how you feel.
Having spent a few short minutes breathing with a little more awareness,
A little more consciously.
We're slowly going to start to resurface now,
But take your time.
There's no rush to move.
Maybe taking a couple of fuller,
Deeper breaths in and out.
Feeling some small movements stretching,
Shifting,
Only cracking open the eyes once you feel ready to.
The practice of meditation is now complete.
