Hello,
In today's session we're going to be looking at the rising and falling of the body when you breathe.
So just relax,
Make sure that you're sat comfortably,
And gently close your eyes.
And if you like,
You can begin by taking some nice in-breaths,
Breathing in through the nose,
And releasing through the mouth,
And just allowing your breath to return to normal.
Breathing through the nostrils for the remainder of the session,
If it feels comfortable to.
Taking a brief moment to check in with the mind.
How's the mind feeling today?
I'm trying to approach it with a spirit of curiosity rather than of judgment,
And moving away from the mind.
Instead,
Getting a sense of being grounded,
And noticing the points of connection between your feet and the floor,
Your legs on the chair.
Just directing your attention to the activities of hearing,
So just listening out for any sounds that might be present right now.
Silence is fine to notice,
Equally loud noises are fine to notice too.
Just allow hearing to unfold exactly as it wants to,
And dropping the focus on hearing.
And instead,
Starting to move your attention on to the sensations related to hearing.
Related to your breathing.
For this particular exercise,
It might be helpful to focus on the breath in the shoulder area,
Or the chest area,
But just quite high up in the torso.
If it feels comfortable to you,
Starting to get a sense of the way that the shoulders and chest rise on the inhale,
And fall on the exhale.
Rising on the inhale,
And falling on the exhale.
Don't worry if you get distracted,
This is completely normal.
Just maintain a positive attitude if you can,
And move your attention back to your breathing in the chest or shoulder area.
Getting a sense of the way the body rises on the inhale,
And falls on the exhale.
And if it helps,
You can actually use the words,
Rising on the inhale,
Falling on the exhale,
As anchors in the mind.
No need to say them out loud.
Really trying to connect to this automatic,
Rhythmic rising and falling that the upper part of the torso does with each breath cycle.
It can be something quite relaxing and soothing about this rhythm if we connect to it.
And again,
If the mind wanders,
Don't worry,
All you need to do is just move the attention back to the breath,
Back to this sense of rising,
And then falling.
Just tuning in to the automatic,
Rhythmic rising and falling of each breath cycle at the final minute or so of the session.
Now you can just let go of all effort completely,
Dropping the focus on your breathing.
Starting to become aware of any sounds or smells in the room.
And finally,
Check in with the mind as you did at the start of the session,
Just seeing what's happening for you.
And then when you're ready to,
Open your eyes,
Gently come back to the room,
And congratulate yourself for practicing today.
Have a great day.
