For this breath awareness practice,
You'll simply bring your attention to your breath.
A person typically takes between 17,
000 and 30,
000 breaths per day every day.
Bringing your attention to this normal occurrence can help promote a sense of calm and relaxation by quieting the mind.
The breath is an anchor to the present moment,
Allowing you to let go of thoughts about the past and the future,
Allowing you to sit with everything just as it is and with yourself just as you are.
Okay,
So let's practice together deepening mindfulness of the breath.
Make your way into a comfortable seated position.
Your eyes can be open or closed,
Whatever you prefer.
Slowly take your focus inwards.
Take a moment to adjust your posture so that you have a sense of sitting with a neutral spine aligned in its natural curves at ease.
As you settle in this position,
Gently bring your awareness to the ground beneath your body,
Fully feeling the support of whatever surface you're resting on.
Now bring your attention to the breath.
Allow the breath to be natural,
Just noticing it here in this moment,
Relaxing with the inflow and outflow.
Take a moment to become aware of where you can sense the breath the most in the body.
Bring curiosity to the areas your attention has accumulated.
Perhaps you might sense the breath is in the nostrils or the back of the throat,
The chest,
Or the abdomen.
You might notice the way the breath moves in the body.
If it feels right,
Take your hands and place them on your abdomen.
Inhaling from above,
Imagine the breath descending from nose all the way down to the belly,
Sensing the way the abdomen expands.
Now imagine the flow of the breath as it moves up and out of the body with the exhalation,
Sensing the way the abdomen gently releases.
Staying with these sensations,
Following the movement of the breath with your mind's eye as you breathe in and as you breathe out,
Breath by breath,
Moment by moment.
Inhaling in to expand and exhaling out to release.
Continue to notice what parts of the body move with the breath,
Perhaps moving one hand over the heart space,
Feeling the chest area,
Sensing if you can feel the breath inside the chest.
Experience what's there.
Be curious about the unfolding sensations.
Now tune into the sound of the breath in the body,
Resting your attention on the gentle rhythmic sounds as you breathe in and breathe out.
Allow the sound and the movement of the breath to anchor you in this moment.
Without judgment,
Simply survey how your body is feeling right now,
Simply breathing and noticing,
Letting the sensations and sounds be just as they are.
Resting here as long as you like,
As much as it feels nourishing for you to sense the breath with a calm and easy presence.
As you feel ready to release the practice,
Let the breath be natural,
Easy,
And rhythmic,
Placing the hands back into a comfortable position on your lap or any way that is comfortable for you.
Gently flutter the eyelids open if they aren't already closed and bring your gaze to your surroundings.
Reorientate yourself to the space and then return to your day with the knowledge that the breath is always there with you and that anytime you can bring your awareness inwards to the calm and ease of the inflow and outflow of the breath.
