Welcome to this affectionate breathing practice.
Taking a moment to arrive,
Have a sense of taking your seat,
Taking a moment to get comfortable.
Bring your attention to your body in whatever position it's in right now.
Notice how your feet feel,
Your legs,
Your seat,
Your trunk,
Your shoulders,
Your head.
Just getting in touch with your body right here and right now.
Perhaps noticing any sensations you feel such as tingling,
Throbbing,
Maybe a sense of space,
Heaviness,
Lightness,
Warmth.
Whether those sensations are pleasant or unpleasant or neutral,
Simply allowing them to be there as they are.
We're just taking this time to explore what we're feeling right now.
Now an invitation to take three deep breaths,
Letting go of any tension that you may be noticing.
Simply breathing in and breathing out.
Now letting your breath return to its normal rhythm.
See if you can notice where you feel the breath most strongly.
Perhaps as it enters and exits your nostrils or maybe the rise and fall of your chest or abdomen.
No one spot is better than another.
Simply exploring what's most vivid for you right now.
Just noticing where you feel your breath most strongly.
Again,
We're not trying to control the breath.
Simply allowing our breath to breathe itself,
Your natural breath.
An invitation to adopt a little half smile,
Very,
Very tiny,
Just so the corners of your mouth curl up just a little bit.
It shouldn't feel strained or forced.
Just letting your mouth adopt a position of a little bit of a smile with your mouth closed.
Perhaps noticing how that makes you feel when your face adopts a position of contentment and peace,
Happiness with the present moment.
Now as you breathe in and out,
Noticing how each in breath feels,
How each out breath feels.
An invitation to hold yourself in a self-compassionate way with affection and kindness and curiosity and letting your breath be infused with this affection,
With this kindness.
Even if you don't really feel it,
Just setting an intention for each breath to breathe in kindness and affection for yourself and breathe out affection and kindness for yourself.
For you who have taken this time out of your busy day to be here,
To take this time to explore and be with yourself and to notice.
Cultivating self-compassion for yourself and your experiences and who you are.
In this moment,
The felt sensations of you breathing in and out in an affectionate and kind way for yourself.
What are the felt sensations that you notice when you hold yourself in this manner?
Your mind will wander.
That's what they do.
Very normal,
Very human.
Don't judge yourself for your mind wandering.
Everyone does it.
We're simply noticing.
This is a moment of mindfulness when you're aware that your mind has wandered and bring your attention gently,
Kindly back to your breath.
Focusing on the feelings of affection and kindness that you're intending with each in-breath and each out-breath.
Coming back to the breath,
If your mind has wandered and feeling some appreciation for your breath itself.
Without breath,
We wouldn't stay alive.
All human beings breathe in and breathe out.
Noticing each breath as it enters and exits your body.
Holding affection for yourself.
Holding kindness for yourself.
Remembering your little half-smile.
Each time your mind wanders,
Bringing it gently and tenderly back to the breath.
Allowing your breath to soothe and comfort your body.
Releasing any tension there as you notice a gentle flow of your breath in and out.
Having a compassionate awareness of your breath in your body.
Noticing what holding yourself in this way brings up within the body.
The felt and direct experience of having affection and kindness towards yourself.
That half-smile.
Perhaps noticing feelings of warmth.
Breathing kindness in and breathing kindness out.
Focusing on your intention of kindness for yourself.
Goodwill,
Of affection,
Of self-compassion.
And as we bring this practice to a close,
An invitation to really focus on your breath.
Gently and kindly breathing in.
Gently and kindly breathing out.
Resting in the feelings of kindness,
Of affection,
Of self-compassion that you've generated.
And as best you can,
Taking this sense of awareness,
Curiosity and compassion into whatever you have left to do with your day.
