We'll get right into it.
Find your comfortable seat on the floor or in a chair.
Or if you have the space,
You can lie on your back as well for this brief check-in.
Bring the attention to the breath.
And take a deep inhalation.
All the air you can take in.
Hold it for a second or two.
And then let go completely,
Releasing all the air from the body.
Again,
Take a deep breath.
Hold it.
And then let go.
One more time.
Inhale.
Pause.
And exhale completely,
All the air out of the body.
Relax your breathing.
And just be aware of the breath for a moment.
Begin introducing a count to the breathing.
So on your next inhale,
Try to count to five.
Hold it on the inhale for the same count of five.
And exhale to the same count of five.
You breathe in this way.
Even counts on the inhale,
On the pause,
And on the exhale.
And if five is the number that works for you,
You can shift that.
So if that's a little long,
You can breathe in to a count of four.
If that's not long enough,
You can breathe in to a count of six or seven.
Whatever feels right to you.
Just keeping the inhalation,
The gentle holding,
And the exhalation at the same length.
And you might even notice as the body begins to relax that you can extend the breath a little bit.
If you are counting to five,
You can count to six or seven or eight.
Maybe even noticing the speed at which you're counting,
How that might affect your breathing.
Maybe a slower count better suits you today.
So you only count to three or four.
After your next exhalation,
Release the counting of the breath.
Allow the breathing to just be relaxed and natural.
And for this last minute,
Maybe noticing your environment.
Speaking out sounds in your surrounding or sensations in the body.
And to finalize our short practice,
Just take a deep breath in again and let it go.
And one more deep breath in and let it go.
Gently open your eyes and move on with your day.
