Welcome to today's mindfulness meditation where we'll be breathing with the body.
Sitting down or lying down,
Finding yourself a comfortable position.
Allowing yourself to make any final adjustments.
Really getting as comfortable as you need.
Closing down your eyes,
Softening your gaze.
Taking a moment to acknowledge yourself.
Showing up for today's practice.
Taking the time to be with yourself.
Cultivating a positive self.
From here let's start by listening to the sounds that are furthest away.
What are the sounds in the present moment that you can hear beyond your space?
Beyond the music,
Beyond my voice.
See if you can stretch your hearing to the sounds that are furthest away.
Realizing that as you're stretching you're listening,
In fact what you're actually stretching is your awareness.
Try not to judge these sounds,
Rather allow them to behave as sonar.
Helping you geolocate yourself in the present moment.
Forming your presence in the here and the now.
From here now,
See if you can focus your awareness by bringing your attention to the sounds,
To your space,
Perhaps the room that you're in.
Beyond the music,
Beyond my voice.
See if you can focus your attention and listen to the sounds in the space.
From here let's continue to contract our awareness to our immediate space,
Our personal space.
See if you can go from listening to the sounds to listening to the sensations.
Noticing the rise and the fall of the body as it breathes in and out.
Where in the body can you feel the movement and the energy of the breath?
Perhaps you notice it in the chest,
Or the abdomen,
Or perhaps at the nostrils.
Perhaps you notice movement or tightness in the shoulders,
In the back,
Or the hips as you breathe.
Bring your awareness to what it feels like to be breathing as you breathe in and breathe out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Let's begin today's practice by visualizing the breath filling up your left arm.
As you inhale,
Imagine the energy of the breath filling your arm down to the fingertips on the left hand.
And as you exhale,
Imagine pushing that breath energy out through the fingertips.
Breathing in,
Filling up the left arm down to the fingertips,
And then emptying it as you breathe out.
If your mind wanders,
Come back to the exercise at hand.
Breathing in to fill up the left arm,
And breathing out,
Allowing the breath to escape on the fingertips of the left hand.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Moving your attention over to your right arm.
Again,
Filling the arm up with the energy of the breath,
With each inhale,
And breathing out through the fingertips with each exhale.
Use your imagination as you breathe in and breathe out.
Tune into your direct experience.
There's no right,
There's no wrong,
There's nothing you should or should not specifically be experiencing.
Give yourself over to your imagination as you breathe in,
Filling up the right arm,
And breathe out as you exhale through the fingertips.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Giving your awareness to your torso.
As you breathe in,
Feel the energy of the breath filling the chest,
The abdomen,
The stomach.
And as you exhale,
Push the energy of your breath out through your sit bones.
Breathing in,
Filling the chest,
The abdomen,
The stomach.
And as you exhale,
Imagine pushing the energy of the breath out through the sit bones.
Continue like this,
Filling and emptying your torso.
As you breathe in and breathe out.
In your own time,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Moving over to your left leg now.
Beginning at the hip and moving down the toes.
Fill the leg as the body takes in breath.
And with the exhale,
Push the energy of the breath out through the balls of the foot.
Breathing in,
Filling up the leg from the hip down.
And as you exhale,
Push the energy of the breath out through the balls of your feet.
Tune into the sensations of the leg as you breathe in.
Keeping the leg in your mind's eye and your imagination.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Switching over now to the right leg.
And again,
Filling the right leg with each inhale from the hip all the way down to the toes.
And then emptying with each exhale through the balls of the feet.
Breathing in and breathing out.
You don't need to breathe in any special way.
See if you can allow your body to breathe itself.
As you breathe in and breathe out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Finally,
Imagining the body as one.
In your mind's eye,
Bringing the body together.
As you inhale,
Fill the entire body with the energy of the breath.
Feel it fill the arms,
The legs and the torso.
You may even try taking an extra deep breath in.
And then with the exhale,
Push the breath and the energy out through the sit bones,
The fingertips and the toes.
Allow the body to breathe in and breathe out.
Altogether,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Doing your own time for a few minutes here.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Now gently as you bring some movement to your fingers,
To your toes.
Finally awakening the body,
Maybe even inviting a light stretch.
As you're doing this,
Take a moment to acknowledge yourself for showing up for your mindfulness practice today.
Then gently open your eyes and return to your day.
Energized and revitalized.
