Biting a pause into your day.
Whenever you're ready,
Taking a moment to simply be,
To simply notice.
Perhaps finding a posture that's comfortable.
Maybe allowing the spine to be upright as if the crown of the head was reaching towards the sky.
You may even like to take a deep breath in,
Lifting the shoulders up towards the ears and breathing out,
Relaxing the shoulder blades down the back.
Perhaps adjusting,
Moving.
However might be comfortable for you.
And taking a moment to notice this body.
Perhaps noticing the points where your body makes connection with the air.
You're seated,
Maybe this is the feet and the sit bones.
If you're lying down,
Maybe it's the whole back of the body or somewhere else entirely.
Noticing these points of contact.
You might like to rock the body or push into the floor to increase that sensation.
Noticing what's holding the body.
This unconditional support of the earth.
And if you'd like to,
You might like to take a deep breath in and as you do this,
You might like to tighten the muscles of the feet,
The legs.
And as you breathe out,
You might like to relax and let these go.
And then with your next breath,
Perhaps breathing in and tightening the muscles of the hands and the arms.
And when you breathe out,
Letting go.
And when you breathe in next,
Perhaps tightening the buttocks,
The tummy.
And as you breathe out,
Releasing,
Relaxing,
Letting go.
Your next in-breath,
Expanding the chest.
And noticing as you breathe out,
Relaxing,
Not letting go.
And on your next in-breath,
Tightening all the muscles of the face,
Screwing up the face as tight as you can.
And as you breathe out,
Releasing.
And we'll do this one more time,
This time including the whole body.
As you breathe in,
Tightening the whole body,
Every muscle you can find.
Tightening,
Holding this,
Noticing this.
And then as you breathe out,
Letting go.
And on your next out-breath,
Perhaps relaxing,
Releasing those muscles a little more,
If that's possible.
Moving awareness to the breath.
And choosing if you'd like to notice the breath.
If the breath doesn't feel comfortable today,
You can choose something else to notice,
The body on the air,
Sights around you,
Sounds.
If you're noticing the breath,
Perhaps noticing where you sense the breath most strongly in the body.
Or just simply noticing in the chest.
As you breathe in,
Not needing to change the breath in any way.
Is it possible to notice the sensation of the chest lifting as air fills the lungs?
And the sensation of the chest relaxing and letting go as you breathe out.
Noticing the sensations,
Experience of breathing as you breathe in your own time.
And you can continue noticing sensations of the breath.
And you can keep the breath in its natural rhythm.
Or if you'd like to,
You might like to add in some counting there.
As you breathe in,
Breathing in for a count of four.
Holding the breath for a count of five.
And breathing out,
Releasing for a count of six.
And you can count these numbers in your mind.
And if the counting doesn't feel useful for you today,
You can let that go and just notice the breath as it is.
If you'd like to explore the counting once more,
Breathing in one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Holding that breath one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five and letting go one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
You can continue this in your own time,
Knowing that this is an invitation.
You can modify it,
Change the numbers,
Let go of the numbers completely if you'd like.
As you breathe in,
Perhaps noticing it takes a little energy to breathe in.
And as you breathe out,
Releasing,
Relaxing,
Letting go.
Perhaps noticing that to breathe in,
It uses a little energy.
To breathe out,
The muscles relax,
Body releases.
You'd like to,
You might like to let the whole body relax and release with the out-breath.
You might even like to invite the idea that the mind can relax and release with the out-breath too.
And we'll take a few more breaths like this,
Either just noticing the breath or counting in your own time.
And as we come towards the end of the practice,
Taking another two breaths,
In whichever way you've chosen,
Be noticing the breathing.
And then when you're ready,
Beginning to release,
Let go of the noticing of the breath.
You can go with the counting,
If you're counting.
Once more noticing the sensation of the body on the earth,
The points of contact.
And as we come towards the end of the practice,
You might like to bring movement back to the body.
Maybe moving the fingers,
The toe,
Maybe stretching.
You might like to tighten the body again and release it.
Maybe taking another deep breath in,
And breathing out with a sigh.
And if the eyes have been closed,
You might like to start to open the,
Whenever you're ready,
Beginning to close this practice and move back into whatever is next for you in your day.
