Good morning beautiful mamas and welcome to today's meditation which will be about the awareness of breathing,
The awareness of your breath.
This is a very simple meditation which you can do every day,
Any time of the day,
And which will help you to calm down the mind when the mind goes a little crazy.
It will help you with sleep and it will also relax your nervous system when this one is really activated.
So in this meditation we will be inspired by a beautiful zen buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh.
You might have heard his name if you're a little familiar with meditation.
He's a big figure,
Died a few years ago but has been really active until the last last years of his life.
He is a master that really brought mindfulness,
This big current of mindfulness,
To the West and to Europe.
So I love him very very much,
I love his teachings.
You can find more of his work in books,
In videos,
Online etc.
If you're interested I urge you to do so.
So let's come into a comfortable seated position,
Although this meditation can also be practiced lying down,
Lying on your side.
So settle yourself in the position of your choice.
If you are sitting you may want to bring your hands to your thighs,
To your knees with the palms facing downwards.
Feeling the warm contact of your hands against your body.
Closing the eyes,
Bringing the awareness inwards.
Start by simply relaxing,
Relaxing your body,
Any tension in your body.
Making a quick scan from the feet,
Up the legs,
Up the abdomen and chest and arms,
Up to the head and checking if you are holding any tension in any of the muscles there.
If that's the case,
Just gently and slowly and sweetly sending your love to this area and encouraging it to release,
To relax without forcing.
So relaxing in particular all the muscles of the face and all the muscles around the eyes.
Relaxing the jaw,
The neck and the shoulders,
Letting the shoulders fall down.
Relaxing the belly,
The muscles of the belly,
Sending a little love to the life inside.
And relaxing the whole body,
Arms and legs,
Hands and feet.
And settling in this body of yours,
This beautiful body.
This beautiful body.
Resting.
Being very aware of every sensation that arises,
That is there.
Whether pleasant or unpleasant,
Doesn't matter.
Just being aware of all the little signals and messages that your body sends.
And welcoming them.
Turning your attention to your breathing,
To the breath,
Listening to the breath.
And enjoying each inhale and each exhale.
Not attempting right now to change anything.
Just being with the breath.
The sound of the breath.
The sensations of the breath.
Wherever it is you feel it the most.
At the nostrils.
Or in the ears.
In the chest.
Or in the belly.
Becoming very aware of the breath.
Following it very closely.
You may notice if the breath right now is long or short.
Deep or more superficial.
Relaxed or more jagged.
Just noticing without any judgment.
Sweet loving awareness for your breath.
And that keeps you alive every instant of the day and night.
It nourishes and supports you.
You and your baby now.
A beautiful thing this is.
Breath.
Now slowly we are going to start to elongate the exhale.
We're going to start to modify the breath.
Without forcing too much.
Simply inhaling.
And then exhaling very slowly.
Inhaling.
And then exhaling very slowly.
Letting the breath exit through the nostrils.
In a very fine way.
So your exhale becomes longer than the inhale.
And you can place your attention at the level of the nostrils as you do so.
Fresh air entering the body.
And then feeling the breath exit the nostrils.
Slightly warmer.
Now letting go of any sense of doing.
Letting go of the elongation of the exhale.
Simply let your breath now be exactly as it is.
Let your body breathe.
Continue to follow each inhale.
Each exhale.
Enjoying each one.
You might sometimes get distracted and stop following the breath,
Go into some thoughts.
If that happens it's totally fine.
Simply come back to the breath.
Breathing in,
I calm my body.
Breathing out,
I smile.
Breathing in,
I calm my body.
Breathing out,
I smile.
Breathing in,
I calm my body.
Breathing out,
I smile.
Breathing in,
I calm my body.
Dwelling in the present moment.
I know this is a wonderful moment.
This is the suggestion from Thich Nhat Hanh.
With every breath in,
You can say to yourself,
Breathing in,
I calm my body.
With every breath out,
You can say to yourself,
Breathing out,
I smile.
Breathing in,
I calm my body.
Breathing out,
I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment.
I know this is a wonderful moment.
Staying with the breath.
Breathing in,
I calm my body.
Breathing out,
I smile.
Breathing in,
I calm my body.
Breathing out,
I smile.
Breathing in,
I calm my body.
Breathing out,
I smile.
Breathing in,
I calm my body.
A view with yourself.
You with your breath.
You with your baby.
Nothing more is needed.
And I will end with a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh.
Who says about the breath.
Breathe to renew the depth of consciousness.
Breathe and you dwell in the here and now.
Breathe and all you touch is new and real.
And slowly,
Slowly,
We will come back from this meditation noticing how our breath is now after these 15 minutes of conscious breathing.
Noticing our state of mind.
How the body is.
How the mind is.
Taking these precious gifts with us into the day,
Into what is coming up next for us.
And knowing that anytime,
Anytime we can come back to the awareness of breath we can breathe in,
Calm the body,
Breathe out,
Smile.
Using those as anchors to bring us back to ourselves.
To our center.
So I invite you to open your eyes again and notice how everything is new and fresh and real around you.
And I wish you a beautiful day.
Namaste.
