Welcome,
Coming into your seat,
Being in a comfortable place,
Feeling tall and relaxed.
Going to start off,
Which is the practice generally called box breathing,
Where we're going to have inhale,
Hold at the top of the inhale,
Exhale and hold at the bottom of the exhale for equal time.
We're going to do this with counts of six.
This tends to be too difficult for you.
On your own,
You can lower to a count of four or five,
But you're going to see,
We're going to start with this box breathing,
The counts of six,
And then we're going to let go of the holds and just do this optimal coherent breathing,
Where you inhale for a count of six,
Exhale for a count of six in a continuous motion cycle.
So coming into your seat,
Let's start off with an exhale,
Empty out,
Empty out and begin.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Hold two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Hold two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Hold two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Hold two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
And now four on your own.
We're going to do one more of this box breathing,
And once again,
Now let go of the holds,
Inhale for six,
Out for six,
Do that for about four breaths.
Really connect to that feeling of the body expanding,
Contracting.
One last coherent breath,
And relax.
We're now going to move into a meditation called the four immeasurables.
In this practice,
We're cultivating these four qualities of kindness,
Compassion,
Joy,
And equanimity.
We're first going to work on bringing these qualities to the self,
And then we're going to bring it to someone in our life.
So bringing your attention to your heart center,
Center of the chest,
And first connecting with a feeling of kindness,
And you could use some phrase like,
May I be well.
Second move into the feeling of compassion,
You could use some phrase like,
May I be free of suffering and pain.
The third quality is joy,
May I experience joy and happiness throughout my day.
Finally is the feeling of equanimity,
This quality of equanimity is so essential.
It's a quality expressing that no matter what's happening in your life,
Work,
Family,
Friends in the external world,
That you're able to connect with a deep source of contentment.
Your sense of contentment and happiness is not dependent on external circumstances.
You could say something to yourself like,
May I feel the sense of equanimity connected with this deep sense of contentment.
Now bring your attention to someone else in your life,
It could be a family member,
A friend,
Someone at work.
Bring them into your mind's eyes if they're sitting a few meters in front of you.
And bring these same four qualities,
Feeling of kindness,
You could say to them,
May you be happy and well,
Cultivating a serious,
A sense of compassion to them,
May you be free of suffering and pain.
What is that quality of joy and what they call empathetic joy,
May you be happy,
Experiencing joy and happiness throughout your day.
And finally,
That feeling of equanimity,
I know may you be able to connect to a deep source within yourself of contentment and a feeling of genuine happiness,
Not dependent on external circumstances.
Before we exit the practice,
Connect to these four qualities.
Make a commitment to embody these qualities in your day to day life with whoever you come in contact with.
Thanks for joining me.
