All right,
Welcome.
To our midweek.
Mind break.
For today's meditation,
We're actually going to start with some breath work.
And.
.
.
And we'll keep layering on the breath work until we are going to then sit in silence for at least 10 to 12 minutes.
I'd like you to kind of really,
From your center,
From your heart center,
Let come up whatever meditation really is.
You know,
Resonates with you today.
And,
You know,
I'm not going to guide you through that part of it.
It's just find your favorite one.
And if you don't really have a favorite one,
Then just focus on the breath,
Right?
Breathing in and breathing out,
Natural breath,
No forcing,
No controlling.
And uh Let's see how that goes.
So find a comfortable seat.
Feet firmly planted on the floor.
Okay.
Let's take a moment to check in with ourselves.
Just notice,
How does your body feel?
How do you feel emotionally?
Mentally.
Without judging.
Just notice.
And then bring your awareness to your feet.
Allow the soles of your feet to soften towards the earth.
Relaxing your ankles.
Your shins and your calves.
Noticing any tension without judgment.
Softening the knees and the back of the knees.
Relaxing the thighs and the back of the thighs.
Letting the hips relax and release towards the floor.
With your next breath,
Feel the belly grow soft.
And the low back,
Release any tension.
Softening the mid-back.
The upper back.
Bringing the shoulders away from the ears.
Softening the elbows,
The wrists,
The fingers.
And then as you inhale,
Feel the breath come up the front of the body to the chest.
Feel the softening of the muscles around the chest.
Relaxing muscles around the throat.
The jaw.
Soften the muscles around the face.
All the way up to the crown of your head.
Let's take a nice,
Long,
Deep breath in,
And as you exhale,
Sigh it out.
So inhale.
And now bring your awareness to that breath.
Notice as you inhale,
Can you feel the belly rise?
And as you exhale,
Can you feel the belly contract towards the spine?
Continue at your own pace.
With this deep inhalation that expands the belly.
And then the exhalation relaxes the belly towards the spine.
And then with your next breath.
Inhale.
Feel the belly.
Expand all the way up into the ribcage.
Imagine the ribcage opening up like a book.
And then as you slowly exhale,
Feel the ribcage come together and the belly relax towards the spine.
I'm gonna do this again a couple more times,
Just focusing on what's happening in the belly and the ribcage.
And then with your next breath.
As you inhale,
The belly expands,
The ribcage comes out to the side and the chest lifts.
To lengthen the breath.
And then as you exhale,
Feel the breath coming from the chest down into the ribcage,
Down into the belly.
So each inhale allows you to expand and connect with the world outside.
And the exhale allows you to come back in.
In towards yourself to connect back to yourself.
Take a couple more breaths just like this,
Slow and easy and effortless.
And then check back in with your body.
Notice,
Can you soften the toes,
The knees,
The hips?
Relax the belly,
The shoulders,
The back,
The jaw,
The face.
And if this three-part breath.
Feels good and like it's serving you,
Then please stay with this three-part breath.
If you'd like to layer on.
You're going to bring your right hand in front of your face,
Bring your thumb to the outside of your right nostril.
Your pinky finger,
Ring finger to the outside of the left nostril,
The two fingers in between the eyebrows.
Take a breath in.
Exhale it out.
And then gently press the right nostril closed as you inhale from the left.
Exhale from the left.
Inhale from the left.
Close the left,
Exhale from the right.
Inhale from the right.
Close the right,
Exhale from the left.
Inhale from the left.
Exhale from the right.
Inhale from the right.
Exhale from the left.
Continuing at your own pace with alternate nostril breathing.
Keeping that Ujjayi breath.
As you inhale from one.
Exhale from the other.
And then you reverse that to inhale.
And exhale.
You can always put your left palm face up underneath your right elbow if you need the support there.
Let the shoulders soften,
The jaw relax.
If you can,
Maybe even place the tip of your tongue behind the teeth or the roof of the mouth.
Keeping this breath.
Just easy and effortless.
It's a wonderful technique for lowering your blood pressure.
Connecting the left and the right side of the brain.
Tapping into your nervous system.
Into the parasympathetic nervous system.
Let's do five more on each side.
When you have completed all five,
And with the exhale on the left side.
And then release the hands to your thighs,
Palms facing up.
Or placing your right palm over left,
Thumbs to touch.
Sitting up nice and tall.
Allow the body to just go in a little deeper.
Letting that breath deepen and slow naturally.
And then for the next few minutes,
We're going to sit here in silence.
Either focusing on your breath or finding a meditation that really serves you.
Take a nice,
Long,
Deep breath in.
Side out.
And then take the next few moments to come back into this time and space.
You can start to wiggle your fingers,
Your toes.
And just take a moment to pause.
In with your body once again.
And notice how you are feeling physically,
Emotionally,
Mentally.
And then when you feel ready,
Take a breath in and take those arms up and stretch the body long.
Reaching up for a nice long stretch.
And then bringing your hands together at your heart center.
Bowing in gratitude.
You're welcome to join me in chanting Aum.
To close.
Our practice.
Take a breath in.
With my gratitude.
And the light that shines within my heart to yours.
I bow.
Namaste.
