Hi,
This is Chris.
I will now guide you through a 10-minute awareness of breath and body meditation.
This is a sitting meditation,
So let's begin by finding a comfortable position for you.
It can be either on a chair or on a meditation cushion.
If you decide to sit on a chair,
Practice to have a straight back,
Sitting away from the back of the chair,
So that your spine is self-supported and the feet flat on the ground.
The head can be balanced on top of the spine.
If you're sitting on a cushion,
Maybe you can take in a cross-legged position.
The hands can be placed on the laps or on the knees,
Palms facing up or down.
When you are ready,
Gently closing the eyes or if you prefer,
Letting the gaze fall on focused on the floor,
A short distance in front of you.
The intention of this meditation is practicing waking up to automatic pilot and coming to awareness.
We bring the attention first into the breath,
Then into the body and then into both breath and body at the same time.
And if you can,
Bring an attitude of trust,
Beginner's mind and kindness to the unfolding of this meditation.
Now let's start with the meditation.
When it feels right,
Gently noticing the movement of the breath.
It's such a constant feature of life that it's easy to ignore,
So taking time with it now.
Actually feeling the sensations of the breath as it rolls in and rolls out.
Allowing the breath to move through its cycle of in-breath and out-breath.
Just being with it.
And if at any time thoughts carry you away to the past or the future,
Emotions arise,
Then that's alright.
And just coming back to the breath with kindness.
No need to judge ourselves.
Now letting go of the breath and bringing your attention into physical sensations in the body.
So investigating the experience of your body.
What sensations can you notice in this moment?
Maybe relaxedness and looseness is here.
Or maybe quite different sensations such as pain,
Aches.
No need to change,
Simply noticing what's here.
Just practicing being with things as they are right now.
Maybe breathing into those areas of unpleasant sensations and breathing out of them.
Softening,
Allowing and letting go.
And when the mind has wandered off or is in rumination or planning or analyzing,
That's okay.
That happens to all of us all the time.
Simply with kindness coming back to the sensations in your body.
Moving on now and combining breath and body.
So feeling the movement of the body while breathing.
Maybe noticing how the chest or belly expands with every inhalation and contracts with every exhalation.
Noticing the changing patterns of physical sensations in the body as we breathe.
Both the breath and the body are our safe places to rest in.
They are always here with us and we can always access them,
Ground ourselves and just soften into the moment.
And now we start to slowly draw this meditation to a close.
So you might want to expand your attention to include the entire body sitting here from the soles of the feet to the top of the head.
Really being present to the totality of the experience in this moment.
And when you are ready,
Gently noticing sounds close by and further away.
Maybe starting to introduce some movements,
Maybe wiggling the hands and toes.
Maybe moving the head from side to side and just start stretching in any direction that feels good to you right now.
And when ready,
Gently opening the eyes.
The awareness of breath and body meditation is now complete.
