Thank you for joining me this morning.
We're going to take a meditation once again.
This one is going to be slightly different but if you are more comfortable using the breath meditation that we have been using then please do feel free to use that instead.
So we're going to start by finding a comfortable seat for ourselves.
So you can be on a chair,
You can be on the floor,
You can have legs crossed or not,
Whatever feels right for you.
So to start off with whether we're on the chair,
Whether we're on the floor,
We're going to make sure our sitting bones are down onto that surface so you feel nice and grounded.
Maybe allowing for your feet if you are on a chair to really come in contact with the ground,
Grounding through your feet.
It's going to allow ourselves to just know that there's nothing that we need to do for the next few minutes other than to just be here.
So I'm going to invite you to either lower your gaze down to the earth or close your eyes,
Whatever feels right for you.
Making sure we've got a nice tall spine,
Maybe tucking the chin back a little to make a nice line up through the back of the neck,
Just lengthening that area.
And I'd like you to just allow your breath to be completely natural.
So if we can,
Taking those inhales and exhales through the nose,
No effort,
Just a natural breath.
Allow yourself to let go of any sound that's around you.
So you're taking your focus to maybe the tip of the nose and the nostrils or maybe that gentle movement at the front and sides of the body as you inhale and exhale.
Just stay with that focus for a moment.
And as you stay here with that focus on your breath,
Maybe allow yourself to let any other thoughts start to become a little quieter.
Turning the volume up on that breath focus and turning the volume down on the other things that maybe you want to take that focus away from the breath.
So finding that soft rest on the focus and just let yourself be here.
This morning I'm going to offer you a mantra to use with the breath.
This is a traditional mantra and it consists of two sounds.
First sound is so as in S-O.
The second sound is hum as in H-U-M.
So means I am and hum means that.
Now this is interpreted traditionally as you say in I am part of the universe or at one with the universe.
That's quite a nice mantra to use.
So if you wish to use this mantra on the inhale silently say to yourself so and on the exhale hum.
So hum.
Just stay in with that focus of your breath,
Your breath and the mantra to let yourself settle into that for a few moments.
Staying with that focus.
Natural breath,
Internal voice.
Anything comes to mind,
Wants to pull your attention away,
Just bring in your attention back to your mantra and your breath.
And if you hear the volume getting turned up on your other thoughts,
Just allowing yourself to acknowledge that but then turn that volume down and bring your mind back to your point of focus once more.
Staying with that focus on the breath,
The focus on the mantra,
Natural breathing.
You're just staying with your focus.
Allowing everything else to just be not attended to right now.
Attending only to your breath and your mantra for a few more moments.
And now start to allow your mantra to quieten.
Last repeat of your mantra is just an internal whisper.
And now begin to allow your awareness internally to notice the movement of your breath as it enters and exits the body,
The journey that the breath takes.
Down,
Through the nose,
Past the throat,
Into the lungs and back out and up through the nose.
Start to become aware of any sensations that you can feel.
Pressure on your sitting bones,
Anywhere that your body's in touch with the earth or the chair.
Maybe notice in the sensation of where your hands are resting.
Bring your awareness to the temperature of your skin,
Any texture of clothing that you can feel on your skin.
Then become aware of sounds nearby,
Maybe in the room or in the building in which you're today.
And then start to zone in on sounds a little further away,
Maybe just outside or even further.
Now we're going to start allowing the breath to deepen.
So maybe take a nice deep inhale.
We can exhale fully through the mouth if that feels right for us today.
Maybe taking one more.
We're going to allow the head to bow down towards the lap.
I'm going to bring the palms together,
Give them a little rub to create some heat into the hands.
Gently place the hands over the eyes,
Maybe feeling the warmth from the hands onto the eyes.
Letting the head gently raise back up to a neutral position.
Letting the eyes open and then slowly dividing the fingers.
Just allowing for that light to come in nice and gradually.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
