Hello and welcome to this meditation for those who are maybe brand new to meditating or have only meditated a few times or for anybody who just wants to invite in that beginner's mind regardless of experience.
So we'll begin by finding a nice long spine in our seated position.
So you might imagine that there's a little string attached to the top of your head and it's gently being pulled up to elongate your spine and you can let your hands rest on your lap or maybe palms against your thighs.
Let your feet be flat on the floor and we'll begin with our eyes open,
Just letting your gaze rest gently on a point out in front of you,
Letting your gaze be downcast and softening your vision so that the periphery begins to blur.
Take a moment just to take in the surroundings through your peripheral vision,
Just taking in the space that you're in,
Noticing yourself present.
We'll take a few deep breaths together,
So first letting all the air out that you currently hold in the body and then take a deep inhale through the nose to fill the belly and fill the chest and then slowly exhale through the nose,
Relaxing your shoulders,
Softening your belly and again a deep inhale and slow exhale to release,
To let go.
And again a deep inhale,
Gathering your awareness and a slow exhale,
This time letting your eyes close if that feels supportive for you or you can let your eyes stay open and downcast.
Now take a moment to bring your awareness to the skin around your eyes and seeing if you can bring a sense of softness,
Relaxation into this area and letting that softness spread throughout the face and softening the shoulders,
Letting them fall away from the throat,
Down the spine and then noticing your sit bones on the seat,
The pressure of the chair against your bottom and then the pressure of your feet on the floor,
Just becoming present in your body and in this moment.
Now notice the natural inflow and outflow of your breath and seeing if you can release any control over the breath,
Just letting it be natural,
Knowing that your body will breathe on its own whether we are bringing our awareness to it or not and see if you can sense into the sensation of your breath.
Where does it feel easiest for you to rest your awareness?
It might be in the rise and fall of your belly or the rise and fall of your chest or maybe you can sense into the air flowing in and out of your nose.
Wherever you most easily notice it,
See if you can let your awareness be there,
Really focusing on the sensations,
Noticing how they change,
How the breath is always moving and you may notice that even right away the mind wanders and the awareness leaves the breath and this is very normal in meditation practice especially as beginners,
The mind can feel really active and the goal is not to stop thinking,
So let go of any judgment that you might have towards yourself as you notice the mind wandering.
All we want to do is just recognize that the mind has wandered and then gently bring our attention back to the breath.
Each time we do this,
Our ability to focus and be with the breath grows stronger.
So again,
Being with the breath,
Sensations of the body breathing and noticing with a gentle awareness when the attention wanders and just kindly bringing it back to the breath.
Each moment that we have this awareness is actually an opportunity to celebrate because we've woken up from the repetitive thinking we can often get pulled in.
So just being right here with the breath,
Noticing sensations in the nose,
The rise and fall of the belly or chest.
And now take a moment to do a brief scan through the body,
Noticing if you feel any more calm or relaxed after doing that practice.
Maybe you feel a little more present or maybe you feel just a little bit more space in your day.
