Aum Coming into a comfortable seated posture,
Whether on the ground or on the chair.
Just making sure the spine is lengthened up but without straining any of your muscles.
Gently closing the eyes,
Relaxing your hands either on your lap or on your knees,
Palms facing upwards or downwards.
Just taking a moment to settle down,
To come into stillness.
Just for the next 10 minutes or so.
The technique we are going to use this evening is called Anapanas,
Which is the first step in the Vipassana meditation.
It's a technique where you are going to observe your natural breathing without any manipulation of the breath.
So before we start,
I'll just quickly do a body scan to get your attention to the body and also make sure you are not tensing any part of the body.
So let's start by taking the attention to the face,
Relaxing the face,
The forehead,
Your eyes and your jaw.
Feeling the face completely relax.
Taking the attention to the head,
The neck,
Positioning the neck so that it falls in line with the spine.
Taking your attention into your shoulders,
Arms and hands.
Making sure there is no tension in the shoulders,
Arms or hands.
Moving your attention down your back and the spine.
Feeling the length in the spine and feeling the muscles in the back.
Relax.
Taking your attention into your chest and the belly.
And if you come across any areas of tension,
Just soften it out.
Moving the attention down into your hips and around.
Taking your attention into both your legs and the feet.
Getting a sense of your whole body as you sit comfortably for the next few minutes.
Now slowly shift your attention to the area below the nostrils.
Just one finger space below the nostrils.
Where you feel the touch of the in-going breath and the out-coming breath.
The strongest.
So find that place.
You are going to hold on to it.
You are going to concentrate or focus on this spot for the next few minutes.
So just take a moment.
Feel the area just about a finger space below the nostrils.
Where you feel the touch of the breath,
The strongest.
And keep your attention on this area.
You are not trying to deepen your breath.
You are not trying to make it slower.
You are just observing the sensation of the breath as it touches the skin about a finger space below the nostrils to go in and as it comes out.
Just staying with this part below the nostrils.
If you don't feel anything,
Maybe just breathe a little harder.
Exaggerate your breath just a little.
So you can feel the touch of the breath just on this space below the nostrils.
And once you found it,
Come back to normal breathing.
Anytime your mind wanders,
Bring it back to feeling the sensation of the breath just a finger space or so below the nostrils.
The mind is like a little puppy so you will have to keep training it.
Just keep bringing it back gently without judging it,
Without criticizing it,
Without being impatient.
If you notice it's wandered,
Just bring it back.
If your mind has wandered,
Bring it back to your breath,
To the sensation of the breath.
To the sensation of the breath that you feel,
A finger space below the nostrils.
Just a minute or so more.
Try to stay as focused as you can.
So you can feel the sensation of the breath just on this space below the nostrils.
Slowly,
Slowly letting go of the technique.
Feeling your whole body.
Observing all the sounds you can hear around you.
And just gently bringing your palms together,
Rubbing your palms together.
And when your palms get warm,
Then just cup your palms onto your eyes without pressing your eyelids too hard.
Stay like this just for a few seconds.
You do this before you open your eyes.
And now slowly as you lower your palms down your face,
You can gently open your eyes,
Rest your hands on your knees.
This technique can be practiced for however long you like.
This was just a taste of it.
You can even go up to 20 minutes which is actually a good start.
So I hope this helped you and I hope you feel your mind is calmer than before you started.
Have a good night.
