Welcome to mindfulness of the breath.
Beginning with establishing a seated position on the floor or on a firm chair.
Drawing the back straight but not rigid.
And a seated inner chair drawing away from the back of the chair so that the spine is self-supporting.
Feet are flat on the floor,
Directly beneath the knees.
Allowing hands to rest on the thighs,
Palms up or down.
Softening the jaw and the mouth.
The forehead and the shoulders,
Dropping them as best as possible.
Allowing the eyes to close or if you'd like to keep them open,
Lowering and softening the gaze.
Gradually becoming aware of the sensations of sitting in this way.
Maybe noticing the sense of pressure in the legs where the body presses down into the ground or the chair.
You may notice the engagement of back or abdominal muscles that hold us upright.
Maybe even noticing sensations in the hands wherever they may be resting.
Bringing attention now to the breath,
Particularly the movements or the sensations of the breath wherever you feel them most clearly.
This may be at the tip of the nose or the nostrils where you may become aware of sensations of temperature of the air moving in and out and at that point.
Perhaps even sensations of humidity or moisture.
Where you may find the sensations most clear and most vivid in the chest area or in the belly area.
The gentle stretching and release of muscles and also skin and even bone bones of the rib cage.
Allowing attention to settle in whichever part of the body you notice the movements and sensations of the breath most vividly.
From time to time you may become aware that attention has shifted away from the breath.
That it has been drawn to some other aspect of experience.
In those moments remembering that the main aim here is simply to be aware of whatever is present and then to gently return to the breath over and over again as often as is needed and as often as you can.
For that purpose just Checking in with attention in this moment.
If you find that attention is no longer on the breath,
Perhaps taking a moment to silently note where attention may have been drawn to,
Perhaps a sound,
Perhaps a thought or an emotion or multiple thoughts,
Or perhaps some other sensation in the body.
Perhaps silently noting this aspect of experience that has drawn attention away,
When very deliberately drawing attention back to the breath,
If it is helpful to you doing so on an inhalation.
As we work to train our attention in this way,
It can be helpful to remember that it's a little bit like training a puppy,
Where gentleness and repetition are key.
So becoming moody again as we experience the surrender or the presence of someone from Thank you.
Checking in with attention one more time.
Just a moment noticing what may be present in awareness and where attention may be resting.
Silently noting,
Thinking,
Or sound,
Or other sensation.
Then on an inhalation,
Drawing attention back to the breath.
And then on an inhalation,
Drawing attention back to the breath.
As we start to bring this practice to a close,
Drawing attention as closely as possible one last time to the contours and movements of the in-breath and the out-breath.
And then to end this practice,
When you are ready,
Slowly opening the eyes.
