Track 2 Awareness of Breath.
This practice is designed to help you ground and settle yourself.
It can be done in a sitting or lying position.
Begin by taking up a comfortable posture.
It could be lying on the floor on a mat or on your bed or sitting in a chair.
If you're sitting in a chair,
Taking an upright posture,
Ideally with your back away from the back of the chair,
So that your body is supporting yourself in a posture that encourages you to be alert and awake,
But also relaxed,
Not stiff and rigid,
Having your feet flat on the floor.
If you're lying down,
Having your legs uncrossed and the arms relaxed and slightly away from the sides of the body.
You may be more comfortable with the knees bent and the feet on the floor.
Experiment and decide which is best for you.
Now,
Bringing your attention to the places where you can feel the contact.
Perhaps feeling your feet on the floor,
Your bottom on the chair,
Or all through the length of the back of the body if you're lying down.
Spending a few moments tuning into an awareness of all of these sensations of contact.
You may also become aware of the space around you.
Now,
Gathering the spotlight of your attention and bringing it to the centre of your body and tuning into the sensations of breath.
Feeling the breath moving through the body.
You may want to place a hand on your abdomen for a few minutes and a hand on your abdomen for a few breaths,
Feeling the belly rising and falling as you breathe.
Not trying to change the breath in any way,
Simply allowing the breath to be as it is,
Breath breathing itself.
As you sit or lie here breathing,
You may become aware of other sensations in the body that arise from the simple act of breathing.
Perhaps sensations in the chest as it expands and contracts.
Maybe you notice sensations in your back as well as at the front of your body.
Perhaps you can feel the air in your throat or even at the nose,
Feeling the cool in breath and the warm out breath.
Resting your awareness in the breath for the whole of each in breath and the whole of each out breath.
Allowing the breath and the body to be just as it is in each moment.
From time to time you will notice that your mind has moved away from the focus of the breath.
This is not a mistake,
This is normal.
All our minds behave in this way.
So whenever you notice that your mind has gone somewhere else,
In this moment you are aware.
Simply return your attention to the focus on the breath.
You will no doubt need to do this many,
Many times.
Whenever you notice that your attention has wandered away from the breath,
Regarding yourself kindly,
Being alert to any tendency to judge or criticise yourself,
Practice patience as well as determination,
Over and over again,
Bringing the wandering attention back to the focus of the breath.
Cultivating.
Steadiness.
Calmness.
Kindness.
Now deliberately expanding your awareness outwards from the breath into the rest of the body,
As if the spotlight of your attention slowly expands to include the whole of you lying or sitting here.
Having a sense of your whole body lying or sitting just as you are,
Aware of the space you occupy,
Of the feelings of contact,
Perhaps the temperature of the air around you.
As we end this practice,
Remembering the quality of steadiness,
Calmness,
Is available to you at any time during a busy day.
The breath is always there to act as an action.
Remember that the breath is always there to act as an action.
Remember that the breath is always there to act as an action.
Remember that the breath is always there to act as an action.
Remember that the breath is always there to act as an anchor and your mind becomes frantic.
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