Welcome.
In this meditation,
We'll use an awareness of our breath,
The feeling of our breath in our bodies as a way to connect with the meditative qualities of clarity,
Openheartedness,
Ease and steadiness.
To begin,
Sit tall,
Nice and long through the spine,
But comfortably.
Feel the airs dropping down and away from our ears and the head feeling balanced atop your spine.
Draw a deep breath into your body.
Exhale completely.
And then allow your breath to flow in and out through your nose easily without manipulating it just yet.
Begin to notice the natural rhythm and the rise and fall of your breath.
Get a sense for where you hear initially feel the breath most in your body.
And please direct your attention to the globe of your head,
Noticing your skull,
Your scalp like a round balloon.
Noticing the space behind the forehead,
Features of your face,
Eyes,
Nose,
Cheeks,
Jaw,
Lips,
And the interior of your mouth.
Allow yourself to begin to relax your head,
Relaxing from the inside out and begin to notice the feeling of your breath there.
Noticing that when you inhale,
You can draw your breath directly from the tips of your nostrils,
Right up directly into the space of your head.
Exhale and feel your breath flow back out through your nose.
We'll hold our attention here on the breath flowing into the skull and back out of the skull.
Feel how the breath flows up through sinus cavities into the space available for you there.
And allow yourself to connect with a feeling of spaciousness all through your head.
Physical spaciousness and the spaciousness of allowing for room in between thoughts,
Mental spaciousness as well.
Continue to focus the in and the outflow of your breath in the head and allow yourself a feeling of clarity.
Imagining any busyness,
Any clutter of thought or attention exhaling out,
Breathing clarity and spaciousness into our headspace.
Now shift your attention down into the space of the chest,
Noticing your breath flow in and out of the chest cavity.
Feel your breath flowing directly into the center of the chest.
The movement that the breath creates as you inhale,
Opening your body up.
And the movement that your breath creates as you exhale,
Allowing you to feel more calm and relaxed.
Breathing into the chest,
Feeling the expansion there,
You can feel more open hearted,
Plenty of room for your heart and your lungs,
No sense of constriction.
And as the breath flows back out,
Enhancing the feeling of calm.
Directing our breath into the space of the chest to create a feeling of an open and spacious heart,
Calm and relaxed.
Now shift your attention down into the bowl of your pelvis,
The lower abdomen,
The lower back,
The pelvic floor.
Imagine drawing your breath directly into the bowl of the pelvis.
And as you inhale,
Allow for a sense of ease.
As you exhale,
Feel secure,
A sense that all is well.
Relaxing the lower belly.
You might even imagine that you could relax your internal organs there.
Feeling the rise of the belly as we inhale and the soft sink of the belly as we exhale.
Our deep belly breath in the space of the pelvis,
Allowing us to connect with feeling at ease and secure,
A sense of safety that all is well.
And finally,
Please bring your attention to the soles of your feet.
Noticing the pads of your toes,
The balls of your feet,
The arches,
And your heels.
You might even feel the surface of your foot resting on the floor,
Connecting with the surface beneath you.
Inhale and exhale.
Imagine that you can guide your breath into and out of the soles of your feet.
Like roots that reach down into the earth and draw nourishment up from the earth simultaneously.
The breath moving in and out of the soles of our feet,
Allowing for a feeling of steadiness,
Allowing for a feeling of being grounded,
Allowing our feet and our sense of breath there to connect us with the stable,
Steady,
And grounded earth below.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Once again,
Please draw a long,
Deep breath in.
Exhale slowly and completely.
Release the visualization and allow yourself to just again connect with your natural breath in the moment,
Knowing that you can utilize these concepts of breath and space in relationship to different areas of the body.
In a system,
The way that we did together just now,
Or go to the one that speaks to you the most.
For example,
If you're feeling scattered,
Busy in the brain,
Draw your breath into the space of your head for clarity and spaciousness.
If you're feeling closed down,
Sad,
Like you're wanting to put the walls up,
Guide your breath into the space of the chest for a sense of calm,
Open-heartedness.
If you're feeling uneasy,
Insecure,
Not safe,
Guide your breath into the space of the pelvis,
Breathing into the pelvic bowl to enhance our feelings of ease and security.
If you're feeling like the ground is shifting beneath you,
You feel unstable,
Unsteady.
Guide your breath to the soles of your feet.
Connect with a feeling of being rooted,
Grounded,
And stable.
There's not a wrong way to do this.
Practice as it works for you.
Deepen your breath in,
Lengthen your breath out,
And thank you for meditating with me today.
