Welcome to this short mindfulness of breath and body practice.
Choosing a posture that feels supportive for your practice today,
Whether that's seated,
Lying down or perhaps standing.
Taking a few moments to become aware of your posture,
Noticing the points of contact with your body and the surface that you're resting upon.
Noticing the weight of the body going down,
Held by the floor and the surface that you're resting on.
And at the same time noticing the gentle uplift through the spine all the way to the top of your head,
Including a sense of the body as a whole in your awareness.
Perhaps gently scanning through the body and softening,
Letting go of any areas of tension that you're able to let go of.
Resting here,
Tall,
Grounded and with the possibility of a strong back and a soft front.
And when you're ready,
Bringing into your mind and into your heart your motivation,
What brings you to practice.
And also acknowledging your intention for this practice today.
Perhaps this is very simple,
An intention to be with yourself and your experience as best you can and including kindliness for yourself and everything that matters to you.
And then whenever you're ready,
Bringing your attention now to become aware of the breath,
Breathing itself,
Following the sensations of breathing as best you can for the full duration of each in-breath and the full duration of each out-breath.
Seeing if it's possible to do this with a light touch,
So not forcing the breath.
No need to change the breathing in any way,
Simply allowing the breath to breathe and resting the attention in an awareness of breathing.
Breathing in,
Knowing that you're breathing in and breathing out,
Knowing that you're breathing out.
Bringing a friendly interest to the sensations of breathing.
I'm noticing the temperature of the air as it enters the body,
A gentle rising of the chest and the belly on the in-breath and the falling away as we release the breath.
And whenever you're ready,
If it's okay for you,
Moving in a little more closely to the detailed sensations of the breath,
Wherever you feel that most clearly today.
Whether that's around the nostrils,
The back of the throat,
The chest or deep in the belly.
There's no right way to feel the breath,
So going with wherever feels most clear,
Wherever is comfortable in this moment and exploring these sensations breath by breath and moment by moment.
And when your attention leaves the breath,
If it hasn't done already,
Bringing a friendly interest to where the attention goes to.
Remembering that this isn't a mistake,
It's not wrong,
It is in the nature of our minds that they wander.
So keeping the practice simple,
Noticing where the attention goes and gently bringing the awareness back to rest in these sensations of breathing as best you can.
And then whenever you're ready,
Opening the awareness,
Breathing into the whole of the body so that once again you're including in awareness a sense of the body as a whole,
Resting here.
Perhaps noticing where your body makes contact with the surface,
Breathing into the body with a kindly breath that can reach every cell,
Perhaps tracing the outline of the body,
Aware of sensations on the inside and sensations on the outside of the body.
And again if we notice that the attention has moved away,
That we've been pulled into thinking,
Perhaps distracted by sounds or physical sensations in the body,
Bringing a friendly interest to where the attention goes and then gently returning again to these sensations of the body,
Resting here.
Can you sense into the body directly?
And you'll notice that the breath is still here moving within the body.
The whole body is breathing,
Spending some moments now in this kindly awareness of the body as a whole in its full capacity,
Breathing body.
And then whenever you're ready,
Opening your awareness and including a sense of the space around the body,
The room or the place that you're sitting in and the sense of the spaciousness beyond the room,
Perhaps opening to the soundscape and then gently transitioning out of the practice,
Opening eyes,
Perhaps making some gestures of movement,
Listening to what your body needs as we reach the end of this practice.
Go well into the next moments of your day.
