Welcome!
We are going to experience a meditation for beginners now.
This meditation will be about 8 or 9 minutes long and I will be introducing you to a very easy focus point,
Your breath.
When you do this at home,
Remember that it's best to choose a time of day when you know you will be receptive to calming and stillness.
Some prefer early mornings before they move into their day and others enjoy using it to wind down and ground themselves in the evening.
Either way,
The first and fundamental step in learning to meditate is a commitment to the practice of meditation.
So take a moment to extend some gratitude to yourself for taking this first step.
The instructions for a sitting practice are very simple.
You've come to your meditation room or quiet space.
You've set your timer.
Beginners often start with 5 or 10 minutes.
You set an intention to be here and stabilize the mind as best you can.
You've taken your chosen posture of comfort and now you are gently going to place your focus on your breathing.
Once you begin meditating,
You will fairly quickly meet with what is called your monkey mind.
The monkey mind is when thoughts and emotions leap around with little sense of control while you're calmly focused on your breathing.
The monkey mind comes and drags you back and forth between moments and memories that have happened recently or even decades ago.
It is normal and expected for our minds to stray and ramble.
They simply need training and focusing and grounded wakefulness and we will learn to do this by simply repeatedly coming back to our breath and bodies when we noticed we have wandered.
So we are going to begin now.
Come to sit in your chosen posture of comfort and gently close your eyes.
Pull all of your focus inward into the center of you,
Your chest,
Your lungs.
Make sure your spine is long and tall,
Strong back,
Soft front.
We are working not to watch the breath but to really feel the breath,
To come into union with it so we almost become merged with its tide.
We are going to begin with a short breathing exercise that will help you ground in the present moment.
We will be using this breath exercise I teach you to begin every day's session at home.
When we start we'll breathe in through the nose,
Fully filling the lungs and then breathe out through the mouth much more slowly,
Just like if you were blowing up a big balloon.
So let's try it.
Breathe in through the nose,
Fully filling the lungs and slowly breathe out through the mouth as though you were blowing up a big balloon.
Short breaths through the nose,
Fully filling the lungs and long and slow outward breaths through the mouth.
Feeling the lungs fill and a long and slow outward breath through the mouth.
Good.
Let's do a few more together now.
Short inward breath,
Long outward.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Long and slow.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Long and slow.
Inhale,
Exhale.
Beautiful.
Now I'd like you to begin breathing as you naturally would.
Just resume your most relaxed state of breathing and just come to tune into your breath.
Opening up the ribs,
The rising in your belly,
The filling up of your chest and shoulders.
I'm going to leave you in silence for a moment now and please just focus where the breath feels the easiest for you to focus on.
Turn back towards your body now,
Noticing how you were feeling.
If your energy has calmed or changed,
Is there more space within you?
Are you feeling lighter or is your breathing and body more soft?
This is what alignment with breath feels like.
It's how we can be nurtured by the most ordinary and simple tools,
Our breath and our aware presence.
Slowly just open your eyes now and come back into the room.
This is pretty simple,
Right?
Meditation isn't much more complicated than that.
If your mind is still preoccupied with thoughts,
Remember that this is a common thing because you are learning focus and presence.
In a culture based largely around doing and achieving,
Our minds have become accustomed to hold attention for very short periods of time.
But as you continue to deepen your practice,
You will become more and more comfortable with the space and stillness within and around you.
