So for this breathing is happening meditation,
We're going to just become aware of the way that the breath is just already happening.
If you're like me then perhaps you've spent a long time trying to follow your breath and not ever really succeeding.
And I just want to offer a different perspective in this meditation.
So rather than seeing the breath as something that needs to be fixed or controlled or forced in any way,
We're just going to expand our awareness to see that breath is happening.
And it's happening throughout our whole body.
We don't have to exert any effort.
We don't have to try.
We can actually sit back and receive the breath.
We can observe the breath.
We can let it nourish us.
We can really sink in to the present moment through seeing that breathing is happening.
So I invite you to find a settled,
Comfortable posture.
You can do this meditation sitting up or lying down.
If you are sitting up,
Just having a solid base,
Feeling stable with your feet either tucked under you or flat on the floor,
Letting your hands rest softly in your lap,
Having a tall,
Straight spine,
Erect yet not rigid.
When you're ready,
I invite you to allow your eyes to close.
And during this practice,
If you get sleepy at any point,
You can always open your eyes back up.
We'll begin by hearing the breath through sound,
Through sighing.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and sigh out through your mouth.
And then,
Just bear the breath as you continue deepening and slowing for just a moment to really connect back into your body,
Back into the present moment.
One more deep breath in,
Slow breath out.
Now,
Just simply become aware of your body in space.
No need to breathe in any particular way.
Realizing as your body sits,
Can you feel the heaviness of the weight of your sit bones?
Can you feel the places that you make contact with your cushion,
Your chair,
Or your bed?
Can you feel a sense of heaviness in your body,
Weight,
Gravity?
So just noticing your body in space,
Beginning to sense in front of you.
Can you feel the expansion of space in front of your body?
And over to the left.
And over to the right.
Seeing if you can sense behind you,
Below you,
And above you.
Just begin to be aware of this field that's all around you that you can sense into the energy,
The aliveness.
Understanding that you extend beyond your skin and letting your consciousness envelop all that surrounds you.
And from this place of being connected to an expanded field of awareness,
I invite you to just notice that breathing is happening in your body.
Being curious about what's happening and not needing to fix or force anything.
Noticing the breath moving your whole body.
As you breathe in and you're filled up with air.
As you breathe out and it flows out of you.
Just letting breathing happen.
Following the breath.
Enjoying the breath.
Letting it soothe you.
Letting it bring you back into this moment.
And if you notice that you want to control the breath,
Then just let your awareness expand out away from your belly or your chest.
And just sense your whole body.
And just be curious of what happens if instead of trying to breathe slower or deeper,
You instead simply allow what's already happening to continue.
Knowing that you can trust your body.
Your body knows how to breathe naturally,
Instinctively,
With effortless ease.
Giving yourself permission just for this meditation to let go of controlling.
Let go of being afraid.
The breath is here to nourish you.
To sustain your life.
So giving it permission.
Getting out of your own way.
Recognizing that your mind will inevitably wander during this practice and not letting that be a problem.
Our minds are meant to jump from thought to thought.
They're trying to help us to keep us safe,
Alive,
Protected.
So offering yourself kindness whenever you notice your mind wandering.
And just coming back to breathing happening as often as you'd like.
Letting your attention stay anchored,
Perhaps elsewhere,
Like on sound,
On sensation in the body.
Or on this expanded field of awareness sensing in.
Letting breathing happen naturally.
Naturally and effortlessly.
Trusting your body.
Giving it permission to do what it knows how to do.
To keep you alive.
And I invite you to bring one hand up to your heart now.
Just tapping into a sense of loving kindness.
A sense of appreciation.
Sense of gratitude.
For the life force energy that comes through your breath.
Feeling the breath come and go.
Knowing that you're being sustained.
You can go and be in this beautiful world and create and love and share and connect and sing and play and dance and do all the other things that you do because of the breath.
Feeling gratitude and tapping into this sense of trusting that your body knows how to breathe.
And sending some appreciation to yourself for your willingness to sit and meditate.
To give yourself a break from trying to control things or worry or plan or figure things out.
Give yourself some gratitude for your willingness to just simply be with what is.
And to hold yourself with tenderness,
With compassion and with love.
And then whenever you feel ready you can wiggle your fingers and your toes.
You can open your eyes if you'd like.
Or if you'd like to keep them closed I'm going to offer a song about breathing that I learned at the Buddhist monastery I lived at.
It's a song in the Plum Village tradition.
And as I sing it if you know it you can sing along or perhaps you can just listen and let it touch you.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
I am blooming as a flower.
I am fresh as the dew.
I am solid as a mountain.
I am firm as a mountain.
I am firm as the earth.
I am free.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
I am water reflecting what is real,
What is true.
And I know there is space deep inside of me.
I am free.
I am free.
I am free.
So just noticing how it feels to receive the words of that song.
To connect with your in-breath and your out-breath.
New in every moment.
To find and cultivate that spaciousness that lives inside.
And to find freedom.
Freedom in the present moment.
And through the breath.
