Welcome to this meditation.
Where we will be focusing on breathing with curiosity and compassion.
You have given yourself this time and this space.
To connect with your breath.
And we will be exploring the breath with kindness and open heart.
As you breathe in and you breathe out.
Becoming more familiar.
With how you do breathing.
What it feels like.
The sensations.
That go with each breath.
And how the breath feels in your body.
So as we start,
My invitation to you is to check in with your environment.
Have you got what you need to hand?
Checking in with your body.
Noticing if you're sitting in the most comfortable position for yourself or maybe the least uncomfortable position.
And it might be that you prefer to do this standing or lying down,
Whatever feels most helpful to you,
Knowing that you're going to be caring specifically for your breath.
We check in with your observations.
So that's thoughts,
Emotions,
Sensations,
Here now.
What can you observe about the inside of your experience?
When you're ready,
Gently soften the focus of your eyes or close your eyes.
Whatever feels most helpful to you.
In this moment.
Yeah.
And as we start.
I invite you.
To bring your awareness,
Bring your attention.
To your chest area.
Bringing you attention.
To where your lungs are,
Your ribcage,
Your diaphragm.
And then bringing the attention up to the top of the lungs.
Maybe even getting a sense of your throat.
You draw air in through your throat and then out again.
And then coming up into your mouth.
Up into your nose.
And notice those two different entry points into your breathing system.
Making a mental note of what you can observe in terms of how easy it is for you to breathe or difficult.
How deep or shallow your breath is at this moment.
The quality of your breath.
Is there a softness to it.
Is there a harshness to it?
Whatever the quality is,
No judgement,
Simply observation.
Paying attention to what here feels like.
Almost like taking a baseline reading.
Making notes.
And then when we come to the end of this meditation.
.
.
You can compare.
What it feels like at that point.
Compared to what it feels like at this point.
All right.
Okay.
I then want to take you not to the breath itself,
What the thoughts and feelings you have about your breath.
Do you judge it?
Do you ignore it?
Maybe you don't feel like you've got any particular feelings about it at all.
Maybe you take it for granted.
Yeah.
Whenever we work with the breath.
It's important to note.
That actually there is more than just breathing going on.
There is your relationship.
With the breath you're taking.
In each moment.
And that relationship may change.
It may have been different this morning.
To what it'll be this evening.
Different yesterday.
To what it'll be.
Tomorrow.
You may want to check in to see whether you take your breath for granted.
Your breath.
Is with you from your first to your last.
You cannot stock up on breath from last week.
Or put some aside.
In reserve for next week.
The breath is always in real time.
You can't breathe two breaths at the same time.
So there is also this sense of linear.
The sequence.
At one breath.
Follows on from the previous breath.
Some are short.
Some are longer.
And that actually in every single moment your breath is affected by whatever else is going on in your body and in your context.
So gently breathing in.
And breathing out.
Giving a moment.
To simply be.
With your breath.
I invite you.
To express gratitude or give thanks.
To your lungs.
Your intercostal muscles.
So those are the little muscles between your ribs.
The ribs themselves.
You die from.
Your neck and throat.
Your vocal cords,
Your airways,
Your mouth,
Your nose.
Yeah thank you for supporting the breath that you're able to take.
If you struggle with breathing,
If you've got any kind of breathing condition,
You may find that there is anxiety or anger or frustration in your relationship with your breath.
So my invitation to you is to get curious about that.
And as much as you're able to,
Bring some kindness.
Some compassion.
Whatever may be going on.
Your body.
That includes all the systems,
All the organs involved in breathing.
Doing the best they can.
To help you.
Breathe in this life force.
What is air?
So thank you,
Dear body.
Thank you,
Dear Airways.
For supporting me and my breath.
So intimately connected with my life force.
Giving yourself time to be with your breath.
And noticing what that relationship feels like for you now that we've given it.
Some attention.
Yeah.
We then shift the focus.
To the experience of breathing.
The sensations of breathing.
And we'll start with where the air enters your body.
Will first notice what it feels like breathing through your mouth.
And then.
.
.
We'll compare that to how it feels to breathe through your nose.
Be mindful of any limitations or issues that you have with breathing.
Where that is through the mouth or through the nose.
And choose what feels most helpful to you in each moment.
So breathing in through your mouth.
Notice the sensations of the air coming across your lips,
Coming into your mouth.
It may have a cool quality or a warm quality depending on the temperature around you.
Notice if you can feel.
The vibration of air coming into your mouth.
On the inside of your mouth,
Whether that's the cheeks,
The tongue.
The roof of your mouth,
Simply observing what you can observe about breathing in.
And then breathing out through the mouth.
Noticing the difference between the in-breath and the out-breath.
It is likely that the outbreath is warmer.
Than your in-breath,
For example.
It may also feel a little bit more humid.
Whatever your experience is.
Simply note.
What it is.
This is information.
This is you getting to know you.
All right.
We then shift to the nose.
Breathing in through the nose and out through the nose.
So we'll do that together as well.
And like with the mouth,
The invitation is to notice the details.
Like the quality or the temperature.
So breathing in through the nose.
And breathing out through the nose.
So what can you observe here?
What did you notice about the qualities of the in-breath?
And the qualities of the out-breath.
Breathing in through the nose.
Breathing out through the nose.
Yeah.
And you may have realised that actually it's not just the airways that are involved here.
Is quite a few of their facial muscles as well.
And your skull.
The jaw,
The jaw joint.
The little sinus gaps in your skull.
Yeah,
There's actually quite a lot more to the breath just at the point of entry and coming out again.
Then let's bring our curiosity to the throat itself.
We will be paying attention to when the air comes down the throat itself.
And then leaves the throat.
So that's the particular focus here.
So choose breathing in through your nose or mouth,
Whatever feels most helpful to you.
And pay particular attention.
To the throat area itself.
Breathing in.
.
.
And breathing out.
And let's do that again so you can have that sense of checking.
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
What were you able to be aware of?
What were you able to notice?
It may not have been much.
Or you may have noticed some contractions or expansion.
Actually,
The vocal cords can vibrate slightly,
So there can be a little bit of sound,
Maybe even wheezing if you're struggling with your breath.
And that sense of the different muscles that actually help.
The air come into the body and come out of the body along the actual airways themselves.
Mmm.
So we've now done the nose,
The mouth,
The throat.
Let's bring the attention down.
To the chest.
So that's the lungs.
And there's like a top,
Middle,
And bottom of your lungs.
And we sometimes forget that we've actually got two.
We've got our symmetrical set of lungs.
And sometimes we're able to be aware of.
One lung feeling easier or tighter than the other.
So I invite you to be curious about that.
So we'll breathe in and breathe out together.
Breathing in.
I'm breathing out.
We'll do that again.
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
Notice what you notice.
There may be some clues that something needs caring for.
Or it may simply be that it's interesting or neutral.
And you may have noticed.
At the lungs.
Are sitting within the ribcage.
With those muscles helping the inhalation and the exhalation.
And not just that,
But also the shoulders.
Above the lungs,
This whole set of muscles and ligaments and tendons that help the lungs do what they do.
And that actually underneath the lungs there is your diaphragm.
And that when we feel relaxed enough or at ease enough,
We can breathe all the way down into the bottom of the lungs,
Really leaning into the diaphragm,
Into our abdomen.
If that feels possible for you.
I invite you to take a really big breath.
So breathing in.
Really feeling your whole lungs fill with glorious air.
And then really exhaling everything you've got,
Really making that diaphragm push up,
Expelling all the air you can.
Isn't it magical?
Even if you do struggle with breathing.
There is something quite powerfully simple,
Elegant,
And magical.
About what happens when we breathe.
Without the breath.
You wouldn't be alive.
It's absolutely essential in every single moment.
Mmm.
So take a moment to simply be with your breath.
In whatever way it is showing up for you at this point.
For a few moments.
Yeah.
And now that we've got curious about both your relationship with your breath,
As well as your experience of the breath itself.
I invite you to become curious and notice the sensations themselves,
The thoughts,
The emotions,
How you are feeling about your breath now.
Whether you're able to connect with gratitude.
Whether your breath feels deeper.
Easier.
Have you got a sense of how nourishing the breath is?
And how vital it is.
The relationship with your breath,
As well as the experience of your breath,
Is something that you can strengthen.
Cultivate.
Support.
Coming back to practices like this.
Whenever that feels helpful to you.
The breath is the one instrument,
The one aspect of your experience that you can use directly to shift from the stress response to the maintenance response.
From the fight,
Flight or freeze response to the rest and repair response.
Simply within a moment.
Wherever you are,
Whatever is going on for you.
Can help you access the more resourceful part of your brain.
Can help you access strength and skills in your body.
Yeah.
When you're able to be more present with your breath.
You can access feeling more resilient and more resourceful.
Regardless of what is going on.
When you're ready,
Gently open your eyes.
Softly move your body in whatever way feels helpful to you.
And as much as you're able to.
Carry with you this feeling of compassion and curiosity.
With and for your breath.
As you go into your day.
Remember that feelings are information.
And that it's more helpful to be curious than critical.
You
