Hello,
To begin this short meditation practicing mindfulness of the breath,
Let's take a comfortable seated position,
On a chair or the floor if you prefer,
Sitting upright but relaxed,
Allowing the eyes to close if you're comfortable with that,
Or taking a soft downward gaze,
Sensing the verticality of your spine,
Allowing your shoulders to soften and your hands to sit comfortably somewhere in your lap,
Making any small movements of the body that feel natural as you settle into stillness,
Perhaps very gently letting your upper body rock backwards and forwards a couple of times,
Maybe a couple of times from side to side as well,
Then settling into stillness,
Easily upright without strain,
Noticing the muscles of your face,
If there's tension there,
Simply noticing it,
Then gently encouraging a sense of softening around the eyes,
A sense of softening in the jaw,
Bringing awareness to your seat,
Where your body makes contact with the chair or the floor,
Feel the weight of your body,
Allowing it to settle downwards into your seat,
And noticing what you feel,
Simply sensing the sensations,
No need to analyze,
If you're on the floor,
Feeling the ground beneath you,
If you're on a chair,
Allowing your attention to move down to your feet,
Noticing the sensations you feel and the presence of the ground beneath you,
Finding a sense of being grounded,
Stable,
Dignified,
Present in this moment,
Now bringing awareness to your breath,
Wherever you feel it most prominently,
Perhaps this is at the nostrils,
The air flowing in,
The air flowing out,
Perhaps in the abdomen,
The soft rising and falling with each inhale and exhale,
Wherever you feel the physical sensations of breathing,
Simply allowing awareness to settle there,
Observing the breath with a relaxed,
Open sense of curiosity,
Feeling how it moves in the body from one moment to the next,
Taking an attitude of beginner's mind,
As if closely bringing awareness to how you breathe for the very first time,
Breath coming in,
Breath going out,
Simply observing,
Not breathing in any special way,
Not trying to change the way you breathe,
Simply observing the way it is now,
And now,
And now,
And on into this practice,
Trying to follow each inhale closely from its beginning to its end,
And the same with the exhale,
From beginning to end,
Observing,
Feeling the breath as closely as you can.
Perhaps you've noticed that your mind keeps bringing forth thoughts,
Not to worry,
That's what minds do,
As long as you are alive,
Your brain will keep secreting thoughts,
And naturally some of these thoughts may carry you away,
May carry your attention away from your breath.
If you notice this,
Gently guiding awareness back to the breath.
The practice is all about noticing when your awareness has strayed from the object of its attention,
In this case the breath.
Noticing when this happens,
No matter how many times,
Is a very good result.
Being gentle with yourself,
No need for any judgment of your practice,
No matter how often the mind might wander.
Simply being with the breath when you're with the breath,
Simply guiding yourself back to the breath when you notice your mind has carried you away,
Over and over.
This is practicing meditation.
Nothing to achieve here,
No wrong or right,
Simply observing what you're doing right now,
Being present with what you're doing right now,
Sitting for another minute or so now,
Being aware of the breath,
The tendency of awareness to wander,
And your ability to bring awareness back,
And sit and breathe for another minute,
Allowing awareness of the breath to subside into the background,
Returning your awareness to your feet on the floor if you're on a chair,
Or to your seat if you're sitting on the floor,
Connecting with sensations there,
Aware of the ground beneath you,
Finding a sense of being grounded as you gently open your eyes,
Let the light back in,
And prepare to head off to do whatever you're doing next.
Thank you for taking the time to practice,
And take care.
