Hello and welcome to day one of the breath by breath meditation journey.
During this seven day journey,
We will be exploring different breathing practices to cultivate different states of being within.
Today's practice is breath by breath.
I am calm.
So please come into a comfortable seat,
Allow your eyes to close if you wish,
And take a nice deep breath in through the nose.
And if you'd like,
You could even sigh out through an open mouth and just allow yourself to begin arriving here for today's practice.
And feel free to repeat that a couple more times,
Taking a deep breath in,
Sighing out,
Letting go and arriving here in this moment.
Doing that one more time,
Deep breath in,
And this time as you breathe out,
Really invite your body to relax and begin to observe the natural flow of your breath.
Breathing in through the nose and out through the nose and just witnessing how your breath is flowing in and out of your body in this moment.
And notice how you are doing in this moment.
What is your inner state of being right now?
This is your baseline.
So you may already feel calm.
Maybe you feel a little bit anxious,
Angry,
Sad.
Maybe you feel joyful.
Noticing how you are in this moment,
And we'll check in at the end of this practice to notice what has changed.
Remembering that we are focusing today on breathing in a way that supports inner calm.
So come back to your breath.
And we're going to begin lengthening out the exhalation.
This is an extremely simple practice to do.
You can do it anytime,
Anywhere,
But by simply stretching out your exhalation without strain or effort,
You will begin to lengthen out the space between your thoughts.
You will begin to calm down your nervous system and you will begin to feel a greater sense of ease within.
So without counting the breaths,
Or adding any kind of complication like that,
Just let yourself breathe in through your nose.
And then as you breathe out,
Just invite your exhalation to stretch out just a little bit longer.
And just continue like that,
Each time you breathe out,
Attempting to fully empty your lungs,
But without strain,
Without stress.
Continue to focus on your exhalations,
Letting them easily and gently grow longer and longer,
And as you're breathing out,
Notice your jaw relaxing,
Just allowing any tension around your jaw and your mouth to release.
And the next time you breathe out,
Do the same with your shoulders.
Slowly exhaling and just feeling your shoulders becoming heavier,
Releasing down away from your ears.
And on your next exhalation,
See if you can invite your entire body to become heavier.
Breathing out and imagining your body being drawn towards the earth.
Feeling the muscles,
And maybe even the skin of the body,
Relaxing.
Breathing in,
Filling up with fresh oxygen and energy,
And then slowly,
Smoothly breathing out any stress,
Any tension,
And letting your body relax towards the earth.
Stay with your exhalation,
And to take this practice just a little bit deeper,
If you'd like,
When you breathe out,
Imagine you're breathing out through a straw.
So you'll exhale through your mouth,
Through pursed lips,
Like you are breathing out through a straw,
And see if that allows you to take your exhalation out even longer.
Repeating this three to five more times,
Breathing out anything that is weighing you down,
Stressing you out,
And keeping you from feeling a sense of inner calm.
Take one more deep inhalation,
Breathing out slowly,
Possibly through pursed lips,
Imagining you're exhaling through a straw for as long as possible,
And after you've completed that exhalation,
Let your breath come back to its own easy,
Natural rhythm.
Settle your awareness inside your own body,
And notice how you feel.
And if this resonates with you,
You can say silently or out loud to yourself,
I am calm.
And see if you can identify where this sense of calmness resides inside of you.
Where in your body do you feel calm?
And even if in this moment you don't exactly feel calm,
I guarantee some of you will feel it.
Seek it out.
Look around,
Feel around inside of you.
Discover where calm resides within you now.
Tap into it.
Receive it.
Get to know this energy inside of you.
Feel it.
To seal in this inner state of calm,
You could take one or both hands and just rest them right over your chest.
Take a nice deep breath in,
Feeling the chest expand beneath your hands.
Breathing out gratitude for giving yourself this time today.
Wherever you go,
Whatever you're doing,
Whoever you're with,
May you bring the sense of calm with you.
Thanks for joining us,
And have a beautiful rest of your day.
