Morning we're talking about breath.
The wonderful thing about the breath along with thousands of other body functions is that it doesn't need us to to do it.
Like we don't have to be paying attention,
We don't have to be conscious at all and our wonderful amazing bodies breathes for us just like our heart beats for us without us having any control over it.
You know try try we can and that's the funny thing about breath is that we can at times control it when we are conscious and paying attention.
But it's also like we're sort of you know tricking ourselves or because really we don't try to hold your breath.
You know we can't we can't just like hold our breaths until we die.
Our you know reflexes are going to kick in and we're going to breathe whether we like it or not.
And so this is one of those things that we don't have complete control of and it's wonderful that we don't because if if you imagine imagine how hard it would be to have to pay attention to your breath 24 7 in order to breathe.
You know there are some conditions very rare where that is so and um people don't live that long.
So this is something to be really grateful for when we reflect on it and it's also a wonderful practice when we pay attention in letting go and non-clinging because if we notice the different phases of the breath we can really delight in them.
Delighting in the inhale and in the pause and in the exhale and in the pause and noticing that.
And at some point in each phase we have to let that go as we move on through to the next phase and we continue that cycle of breath.
As and that's a nice thing to serve as a reminder to the practice of of non-clinging and letting go because we often can be enjoying something.
Things that we enjoy that feel pleasant we want to keep keep it and we we want to hold on to it and not let it go.
But the longer you know we try to cling to this thing that's where suffering starts to kick in because too much of anything leads to suffering whether it's food or behaviors that we enjoy or experiences that we enjoy.
Too much of it is not a good thing.
So today we are going to play with that.
So let's begin a meditation with our awareness on the breath.
So find a comfortable seat wherever you are or if you're standing it's all good but get comfortable and allow yourself to be relaxed and also alert allowing the spine to be tall.
Softening the face softening the skin bringing awareness to this moment here.
Noticing sounds light the body the gravity as it pulls us down and settles us into the ground feeling supported.
If there's any area in the body that feels tense gently bring awareness there and a softening bringing awareness to the breath where you notice it most prominently might be the tip of the nose the back of the throat the chest as it rises and falls the belly the belly but maybe a sense of how the whole body responds to the inflow and outflow of the breath delighting in this knowing that when we bring our awareness to it it may or may not change the rhythm of the breath but allowing whatever rhythm is there to be noticing how it changes or remains constant without trying to do anything trusting in our body and it's caring for us trusting that the breath comes in and goes out without us needing to do anything and from time to time we might notice the mind wandering thoughts planning memories they come allowing them to go just as easily as they come when we become aware of it however active or settled the mind is just allowing it to be and breathing with it so knowing that when our attention moves to one thing or another in this moment that the breath remains delighting in the inhale delighting in the pause at the top of the inhale and that's stillness for just a moment delighting in the exhale allowing it to lengthen naturally and delighting in the pause stillness at the bottom of the exhale and noticing when it's time letting it go whatever phase of breath we may be in noticing that letting go of it and welcoming the next phase of breath with gratitude so and again it may be natural for thoughts to come and go allowing whatever state we may be in meeting it with kindness and compassion so allowing the rise and fall of thoughts feelings as we invite it with the rise and fall of the breath so
