So inhaling for 1,
2,
3,
4,
Hold 2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
Exhale through the mouth for 2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
And again a deep in-breath for 1,
2,
3,
4,
Hold 2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
Exhaling through the mouth for 2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
One last time,
Take the deepest breath you've taken today.
Inhaling for 1,
2,
3,
4,
Hold 2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
Exhaling through the mouth for 2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
Keep your eyes gently closed.
Take a moment to arrive to your practice.
Feel your broad back and your soft belly,
Your buoyant,
Light chest.
Find stillness in a way that's most comfortable to you.
Feeling heavy in the chair.
Letting your body rest fully.
Relax your forehead and the eyebrows.
Soften the eyebrows and the space between the eyebrows.
Relax the jaw,
The cheeks,
The mouth.
Nothing to do,
Nothing to express right now.
And release the shoulders.
Soften the upper back.
Release your collarbones.
And relax the chest.
We continue moving down the body.
Release the left arm and the right arm.
Bring awareness to your hands and your fingers.
Feel the sensations right at the fingertips.
Relax your belly and the left leg and the right leg.
Feel the left foot.
Feel the right foot.
Notice your whole body inside and out.
And now shift your awareness to the breath.
Notice your breath with warmth,
With kindness.
And staying with the breath.
Resting in the breath.
The simplicity of sensing.
Feel into the physical sensation of the breath in the nose,
Just entering the nose.
Feel that breath in your throat,
Passing through the throat.
Like a dryness that just passes through,
Comes and goes.
Feeling the breath in the throat,
Very subtle sensation.
But can you feel it more fully with each breath?
And notice your collarbone rising and falling.
Another subtle sensation.
Your collarbones moving slightly with each breath.
And feel the chest rise and fall.
Feel the belly,
You might even put a hand on your belly.
And let the hand receive the breath.
Now gather your awareness on whatever aspect of breath is easier to feel fully.
And we will stay with this breath together for two minutes.
For two minutes,
Allow your attention to gently ride the waves of the breath.
For these two minutes,
Letting go of the complexity of the mind.
And just being with the simplicity of the breath.
Begin now.
And whenever your attention wanders,
Which it will,
Treating that with kindness and returning to the breath.
If your attention wanders,
Let that be included in your compassion,
And in your awareness.
Noticing the breath more fully in each moment.
And now from this more focused,
More expanded awareness,
Take that awareness and place it on your heart.
What are you feeling at the heart?
What do you feel around the chest?
Do you feel the heart beating?
And now imagine that you could breathe in right into the heart and breathe out from the heart.
As if you had lungs there,
Sending the breath right into the chest,
Lungs and heart.
And exhaling from the lungs,
Heart and chest.
Bringing awareness to this area.
Now from this place of heartfulness,
Choose someone to extend compassion to.
Imagine that person you want to send compassion to.
Maybe a person who's going through something difficult.
It could be someone you know personally or someone you don't know personally.
Imagine this person in your mind's eye.
And feel the wish that they be well.
And that warmth coming from your heart.
Bring back that sense of breathing in and out of the heart.
And imagine sending compassion out from the heart on every out breath.
Sending a light with every out breath.
See this light,
Touch this person.
Wish for this person.
May you find the sources of happiness,
Openness,
Freedom,
In your own way,
In your own life,
On your own path.
And now send the wish to all the people near you.
All the people in your life.
May we all find the sources of love,
The sources of happiness,
The sources of freedom,
In our own way,
On our own path.
May all of us be happy.
May we all be free of the suffering we carry.
And now experiment with what it would feel like if it's even possible to send compassion to every single person in the world.
Every person on earth.
And now bring your attention back to your own breath,
Back to your body.
Back to the simplicity of the breath.
Take a deep breath in through the nose.
Take a breath out through the mouth.
And thank your body for making it possible for you to be here.
Thank your heart for its good intentions.
Thank your mind for letting you do this meditation when it could have been distracting itself.
And now just feel the feet against the floor.
Feel your body in the chair.
Feel the air against your skin.
And begin to open your ears to the sound of the bell.
