Coming into a comfortable sitting position,
Feeling aligned and dignified,
But also very relaxed.
Bring the mind into the body,
Body on your seat.
Now bring your attention to the breath.
You're going to be working with the five qualities of the breath.
The first quality is a feeling of slow.
Let the breath be slow,
Calm it down,
Pace of the breath very connected to the state of your emotions and energy.
Very slow breath as you breathe in,
Breathe out.
Second quality is a feeling of deep,
Meaning we go deep into the body and you feel the breathing in the lower abdomen as if you're diving down into a deep lake.
Feel the lower abdomen involved in the breathing process.
Work on the breath being smooth and continuous.
No holding the breath,
No jerky,
Fast,
Slow parts.
Just a continuous flow to it like a wheel.
Slow,
Deep,
And smooth.
The breath is quiet,
No huffing and puffing,
As if someone sitting next to you isn't even hearing you breathe,
Even though you're breathing very deep,
The lowest part of the lungs,
Diaphragm engages.
It's an ocean wave-like feeling,
But very quiet.
Finally,
A feeling of softness,
The body softens,
Letting the breath fill up every part of the lungs.
Feel the breath as it moves through the whole body,
Oxygenating the blood to the cellular level.
And just be with that for about two or three breaths,
The feeling of slow,
Deep,
Continuous,
Quiet and soft.
Maintaining these five qualities,
We're going to work with a counting pattern now,
What they call the coherent breath,
The optimal breathing.
We're going to breathe in for five to six seconds on the inhale,
And then five to six seconds on the exhale.
No breath hold,
Just this continual flow.
This,
As they say,
Is they call the coherent breathing or optimal breathing.
When this breathing rate,
This rate of respiration brings all our major bodily systems online to work at how they should be.
Right,
We're going to start off,
I'll count it off,
Count to five,
And then we'll move to count to six.
So start with your exhale,
Empty out,
Breathe it in,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Out,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
In,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Out,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
And do a few on your own.
We're going to increase the rate a bit to six,
Six on the in,
Six on the out.
So start with your exhale and begin,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Out,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
In,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
And do a few on your own.
One more.
Now moving into an embodied breathing meditation.
Moving from technique,
Accounting practice,
And the doing to the just pure being we do with meditation,
Not trying to control and manipulate the breath,
Just experiencing the breathing body.
At first,
Let's drop our awareness,
Bring it into the lower abdomen,
So we're not trying to extend the breath,
We're just experiencing the body as it breathes here in the lower belly.
You might feel some movement with the belly,
You might feel some movement with the back or the sides.
Once again,
Not trying to control,
There's no perfect way to do this,
Not better or worse.
What we're training now is awareness.
Once again,
Approaching the practice non-judgmentally,
Don't be bothered if you don't feel like you're breathing well or the length.
Let go of expectations,
Be curious of this moment-to-moment experience with a light touch and a sense of humor.
Let's take one more breath with our attention in the lower abdomen.
Now let's bring our attention to the heart center,
The center of the chest.
Once again,
Not trying to do anything special,
We just brought our attention,
Which normally appears with our thoughts and our worries,
Dropping it here.
Just feeling the breath,
Feeling the body as you breathe in and out,
Nothing to do.
Just bring the attention here,
Experiencing the breathing body,
Feeling almost like the heart center just opens up.
Let's do one more breath here,
Just experiencing the heart center.
As we finish up,
We're going to bring the attention to the nose,
Just being with the breath at the entrance and exit point of the breath.
You might notice slight coolness on the inhale,
Slight warmth on the exhale.
Once again,
Not trying to control,
Manipulate,
Nothing to do,
We're just being,
Being with the breath at the nose.
Four breaths.
Once again,
The mind wanders,
No judgment,
No frustrations,
Just a curious noting.
Note the wandering mind and bring it right back to the next breath.
Taking one more breath here,
All the awareness at the tip of the nose.
Fully exhale and relax.
