Welcome to this practice,
Breath and Body Awareness.
Adapting the posture of mindfulness,
Inviting ourselves to sit comfortably with our back straight,
Feet resting on the floor,
Body relaxed and at ease,
Stable like a mountain.
The eyes are open and looking downwards with a soft gaze,
Or closed if you prefer.
Taking a few deep breaths and relaxing more and more with each cycle of breath.
Checking in with ourselves to see how we're feeling at this moment.
There is neither a right thing or a wrong thing to feel,
Simply noticing what is arising right now.
Remembering our intention for this practice,
Cultivating relaxation,
Presence and awareness with an attitude of kindness and curiosity.
And gently bringing our awareness to our breath flow.
Noticing the incoming breath,
The outgoing breath,
Without any attempt to control it in any way.
Becoming aware of the sensations of the breath,
Maybe noticing the rise and the fall of the abdomen,
Expansion and contraction of the chest,
Or any sensations you may feel in the nostrils.
How do you know your body is breathing right now?
Staying with the breath flow for the next few moments,
Simply observing.
Noticing the breath coming in and going out.
And if you become aware of the mind has wandered off,
Which it will many many times during this practice,
Noticing what is on your mind,
Seeing the thought and then gently,
Kindly,
Compassionately coming back to the breath.
Noticing the qualities of your breath.
Is it deep?
Is it shallow?
Not trying to control the breath in any way,
Simply observing the natural breath flow.
Taking a deep breath in and out,
Letting go of the focus of the breath,
And gently bringing our awareness to our whole body sitting here.
Quickly scanning the body from head to toe and noticing any physical sensations that you may experience right now.
Maybe some tingling,
Pulsation,
Heaviness,
Lightness,
Tension,
Or even pain.
Simply holding these sensations in awareness without judgment.
What kind of physical sensations are you noticing in your body at this moment?
And gently bringing our awareness to the most predominant sensation in our body right now.
Which physical sensation is catching your attention the most at this moment?
Bringing our full attention to that part of our body.
Maybe some pain in your shoulder,
A tingling in your hand,
Or any other sensation that you're aware of,
Which is catching your attention.
Observing the most predominant sensation without judgment,
Making space for it.
If the mind wanders off,
Simply noticing what is on your mind and gently coming back to the body to the most predominant sensation in this moment.
Soon we may realize that other predominant sensations also pop up in other parts of our bodies.
And when this happens,
Gently shifting our attention to that part of the body.
Simply being present with the sensation.
In this way,
We're holding the predominant sensations in awareness as they come and go.
Once again,
Staying with the most predominant sensation in your body at this moment,
Whatever that may be for you.
And taking a deep breath in and out,
Letting go of the awareness of our body and coming back to the breath.
Noticing the incoming breath,
The outgoing breath.
And lastly,
Letting go of any focus of the breath or the body and resting in natural awareness.
Simply being,
Being present with whatever is arising right now.
Maybe noticing the sounds in the environment,
Things that you can see,
Noticing the mind chatter,
The body sensations.
Simply being,
Being present.
And noticing how we feel after this practice.
Taking a moment to appreciate taking the time for our self-care and well-being.
And once again remembering our intention,
Cultivating present moment awareness with kindness and compassion.
And bringing these qualities into our life.
