Three-step breathing space,
Responsive.
You've been practicing the breathing space perhaps three times a day or whenever you need it,
And now the invitation is to bring this practice in to your daily life whenever you feel troubled in the body or in the mind,
And having this be a first step to take this breathing space and create some space in that experience.
And so inviting you to step one,
Which is becoming aware,
Becoming aware of how things are right now,
Perhaps adopting a posture that's dignified,
Whether you're sitting or standing,
And if possible,
Closing your eyes,
And inviting you to bring awareness to the inner experience as it is right now,
And just exploring what's there right now.
So what thoughts are happening right now?
What's going through your mind as best you can,
Sort of acknowledging these thoughts as mental events or sort of like clouds that are floating by.
Noticing your feelings,
What is arising,
And body sensations.
And now in this practice,
You may find it helpful to describe and identify what's arising,
So putting these experiences into words such as,
I'm noticing anger,
Or thoughts are arising around planning or future,
Or perhaps self-critical thoughts are here,
So sort of just labeling what's there in thoughts,
Feelings,
And body sensations.
Now narrowing your attention,
Focusing it back down,
So gathering your attention to the physical sensations of an anchor,
Perhaps the breath,
Breathing,
Or if you need a different anchor,
Choosing the hands or some other place to focus your attention.
And moving in as close as you can to those sensations,
Perhaps feeling the breath in the abdomen,
Or in the chest,
Or somewhere else in the body,
And perhaps in the back of your mind,
Just bringing in this noting,
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Or perhaps counting breaths,
Inhaling one,
Exhaling one,
Inhaling two,
Exhaling two,
And so on.
And now in your third step,
Expanding your attention back out to the whole body,
Breathing,
So becoming aware of our posture,
Noticing our facial expression,
And holding the sensations of the breath as well as you hold all of the sensations in your body just as they are.
And now extending this step if you choose,
Particularly if there's any discomfort or tension resistance,
So noticing if these sensations are present,
And inviting your awareness into these sensations by perhaps bringing the breath into them,
So on the in-breath,
Breathing into the sensation,
And then breathing out from the sensation,
And perhaps saying to yourself,
Whatever is here is fine,
Just let me feel it,
Inviting an openness,
This is how things are right now,
I can hold this for just a moment and feel it,
Or just inviting a curiosity about what sensations are present,
And opening to allowing them to be there just for a moment to notice them.
Now as you end this practice,
Bringing this expanded awareness into the next moments of your day.
