Sit comfortably with an elongated spine and close your eyes.
If it's uncomfortable for you to close your eyes,
Just keep a soft,
Unfocused gaze.
Just begin to notice your breath.
Notice if you tend to breathe in and out of the nose or through the mouth.
Notice what areas of the body expand and contract as you breathe.
If you tend to breathe more into the abdomen,
The ribs,
Or the chest,
Notice if your inhales are open.
Notice if your inhales are longer than the exhales.
Notice if the exhales are longer than the inhales.
Notice your natural breathing tendencies.
Without changing anything,
Observing without control or judgment,
Just simply noticing.
It's when you take these moments to slow down to notice your breath that you create a buffer.
It's within that buffer,
Within the pause,
That you give yourself a chance to respond to situations,
To thoughts,
Experiences.
In a thoughtful way.
Taking a few more cycles of breath here.
Just feeling yourself breathing.
When you're ready,
Slowly open your eyes.