Welcome to this 10-minute mindfulness meditation guidance.
I am Zelina.
Just like to invite you to sit in a posture that is helpful for today's practice.
If you're seated on a chair,
Make sure that your feet are grounded,
Your hands resting on your lap,
And your back is straight,
Your shoulders and neck aligned.
You may also choose to be seated on the floor with your legs crossed,
Or you might like to be lying down as well.
Just ensuring that you are in a relaxed but alert posture,
And then closing your eyes if you're comfortable to do so.
Otherwise,
Just simply lowering your gaze at a spot in front of you.
And now please tune into the sensations of your breath.
And we can do this firstly by taking three slightly deeper breaths,
Breathing in and out,
And just noticing where it is in your body that you feel the breath the strongest.
It could be in the rise and fall of your abdomen,
Your chest area,
Or it could be just outside your nostrils.
Breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
And as we settle into this posture and tune our attention to our breath,
You might notice some relaxation that naturally occurs,
Or you might even notice where it is that you might be holding any tension.
And if you are,
Then over the next few breaths,
Just releasing all this unnecessary effort and striving or stiffness,
And simply observe the body breathing.
So as you breathe in,
You can scan the body to identify any parts where you might be experiencing any tension.
And as you breathe out,
Paying attention to that area and allowing the body to breathe out,
Paying attention to that area and allowing the tension to release the best that you can with the out-breath.
You're simply inviting this,
Not forcing relaxation.
Your only task at this moment is to bring mindful attention to the sensations of your breath and also your body.
And you can also do this with your mind.
So happily letting go of thoughts,
Letting go of to-do lists,
And just bringing your attention back to your breath whenever distractions arise,
And they inevitably do,
In the form of thoughts,
Whether in the past or future,
In the form of sounds or physical sensations,
Smells,
Or emotions.
Just simply be aware of these distractions,
Not get carried away with them.
No need to tell a story about them.
Just note that there is a distraction and simply relax,
Release the distraction,
And return your attention to your breath.
And at this point as well,
If you find it helpful to introduce the cycles of counting each time you breathe out,
Simply noting,
Not holding your breath,
However it is that you're breathing,
Is absolutely fine.
So you can just simply count each time you breathe out or you exhale from 1 to 10,
And then from 10 backwards to 1.
This is simply for us to give our minds,
Our active minds,
Something else to do.
And for some of us this helps us retain our focus and our attention and our presence on our breath.
And I'll let you do this in silence for the next one minute,
Noting when you reach 10,
You can count backwards to 1,
And just continue this in cycles.
Each time a distraction arises,
Simply relax,
Release and return to your breath,
And restart your counting at 1.
However it is that you're breathing is absolutely fine.
This is not a breathing exercise.
We are here to train ourselves in presence,
Focus,
Attention and awareness.
And at any point in time if you notice yourself almost putting too much effort or striving a little bit too much,
Just simply relax,
Release any sort of attention to outcomes,
And simply just come back to the sensations of your breath and enjoying this time that you're connecting your mind,
Your body with attentive presence.
With just under a minute to go,
It's a great time for you to ask yourself,
How am I feeling right now?
What do I notice in terms of my state of mind,
The state of my body?
And perhaps allow a smile to naturally occur on your face as an acknowledgement of gratitude for having spent these 10 minutes in silence,
Practicing your attention and engaging in mindfulness.
