Sedan bell welcome taking your time to get into a posture that can support you.
Ensuring that telephones are turned off,
Allowing this to be a time for you.
So if you are sitting in a chair,
Checking in with the back,
The spine,
Ensuring that you're upright.
Perhaps imagining you have a golden thread coming out through the top of the head.
Pulling the spine and the body upwards.
Check in with the back of the neck.
Also ensure that that is straight.
Checking in with the chin as well.
Perhaps not tilted too far downwards or too far upwards.
You may even need to tuck the chin in a bit.
Allowing the chest to be open.
If you are lying on the floor,
Encourage you to lie on your back.
Perhaps a pillow supporting the head or possibly underneath the knees.
Allowing the hands to be beside the body.
Or if you are sitting in a chair,
Allowing the hands to be gently in the lap.
If it feels comfortable,
You can have the eyes closed.
If that doesn't feel comfortable,
Or perhaps you have a number of images coming into the mind,
Allow the eyes to be open.
And allow the gaze to be slightly downcast.
Down at a 45 degree angle.
And allowing the gaze to rest at some point in front of you.
Ensuring that the head does not tip downwards in this process.
If you are lying down,
Again feel free to close the eyes.
If you find that there is lots of sleepiness though,
You may want to keep the eyes open.
And just experimenting with eyes closed,
Eyes open.
So I invite you now to check in with the body.
Just notice how the body is feeling.
Notice any areas of tension.
Noticing any areas of ease.
No need to change anything at this point.
We are simply noticing what is here.
Now I invite you to bring the attention to the breath.
And the feeling of breathing in the body.
Feeling the air coming in to the body.
Going out of the body.
Feeling the body breathing.
Notice the rate of your breathing.
Again without any need to change it at this point.
Simply noticing.
Noticing the air going in.
The effect of that on the body.
Air going out.
Just noticing the body breathing itself.
You might notice that the breathing speeds up or slows down.
It may even feel like the breathing stops for a moment.
Whatever occurs simply observing without judgement.
It may be quite easy for you to feel the breath in the body or it may be quite challenging to feel the body breathing.
If you are finding that you are struggling,
Place a hand on the chest or on the abdomen.
And just notice what is happening with the hand being placed on the body.
You might feel some movement.
Tune in to that now.
Notice what is happening.
The hand is rising and falling.
The breathing might be quite rapid.
Try not to change anything.
Simply witnessing.
Observing the in-breath and the out-breath.
The in-breath and the out-breath.
If you find that the mind is quite busy,
You might add a mental noting.
As the breath comes into the body,
Simply noting,
Breathing in.
And as the breath goes out of the body,
Just breathing out.
Noting,
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
At some point you might let go of that mental noting.
If you find that the attention is more gathered.
And working with your own mind and body.
Allowing yourself to remove that hand from the chest or from the abdomen at any point.
You'll probably notice that it can be quite difficult to keep the attention on the breath.
The mind wanders.
Whenever you notice that the mind has wandered,
It's not really here,
It's somewhere else.
Thinking perhaps about some problem.
Some issue that needs resolving.
Perhaps something that's happened in the past,
Perhaps today or yesterday,
Or maybe quite far back in the past.
Perhaps the mind has drawn to the future,
Later today or next week,
Or even further.
Whenever you notice that the mind is not quite here,
Not quite attending to the breath.
Just notice that that's happened.
And without giving yourself a hard time,
Invite yourself to come back.
Invite the attention back to right here,
Right now.
Feeling the in-breath,
Feeling the out-breath.
Feeling this body breathing.
You may bring the mind back a million times.
Each time being kind,
Gentle and persistent in the returning.
Start again right now.
Feel the breath.
Take a moment to direct the attention down to the feet.
Notice where they're placed.
Without any need to move them,
Just noticing their position.
Noticing any sensations.
Noticing the soles of the feet,
The heels.
The toes,
The tops of the feet.
Just breathing with the awareness of the feet.
Now redirect the attention back up to the chest.
The feeling of breathing in this location.
Perhaps noticing a slight movement of the chest as the lungs expand and contract.
And each time the mind wanders,
Just coming back.
Starting again right now.
Noticing the body breathing.
There's nowhere that you need to go right now,
There's nothing that you need to feel or to do.
Just noticing how it is.
Allow everything to be as it is.
These last few moments of the practice,
Just gathering the attention once more.
Feeling the body breathing.
And then allowing the body to stretch,
To move in whatever way is good for you.
And remembering to tune into the breath and the feeling of breathing in the body throughout the day.
