Welcome to this mindfulness meditation with myself Emily Rose.
You can find a comfortable seat,
So preferably sitting up with your spine upright.
You can sit on the floor on a cushion,
Maybe with your back against a wall or sit on a chair with your feet flat to the floor.
Settle yourself,
Make whatever adjustments you need so that you find a balance between a sense of alertness and a sense of ease.
You might take a couple of slightly deeper breaths,
Breathing in deeply through your nose where you can and then letting the breath fall out either through the nose or opening the mouth and letting it out.
Use the breath in this way to perhaps bring a little more relaxation into areas that might feel tense,
Maybe the shoulders,
The jaw,
The belly and then allow your breath to soften.
Feel the weight of your body wherever it's sitting.
Feeling the parts of the body that are in contact with the ground or the chair,
Letting your hands rest softly on your knees or in your lap.
Start to bring the fullness of your attention to your breath.
Notice where you feel the breath most strongly,
The sensation of movement at the belly or the chest,
Perhaps the sensation of air passing on skin around the nostrils.
Notice the quality of the breath,
Whether it feels deep or shallow,
Rough,
Smooth,
Whether you can breathe through the nose or maybe it's blocked and if so,
Just allow the breath to lightly move in and out through the mouth.
See if you can bring a sense of curiosity and interest to the sensation of breathing and cover the whole breath with that awareness,
All the way from the very start of the inhale through to the end of the exhale and the little space before the breath turns around and moves back in again.
Let the breath be the very centre of your focus.
And if you find that the mind is busy today,
Just acknowledge that.
And if the mind wanders off the breath into thoughts,
Noticing distractions,
Other sounds outside or sensations within the body,
You can acknowledge that the mind has wandered and then recommit to coming back to feel the breath again.
This breath in this moment.
And if for you today,
Following the breath is uncomfortable,
If it brings you out of that balance between the wakefulness and the ease,
You might like to let your anchor,
Let your focus for your mind be perhaps the weight of the body sitting on the ground or the chair.
Or maybe sensations in the hands,
You might feel the palms of the hands or the fingertips.
Notice what you feel there,
A sense of aliveness.
Maybe the air on the skin,
The tingling and numbness,
Whatever you feel without any expectation of how it should be or any judgment of how it is,
Just allow it to be.
And bring that curiosity in.
And so whether you've chosen to follow the breath or to feel the sensation of the body,
The hands,
Stay with that for the next minute or two.
Noticing when the mind wanders and then gently bringing it back to your anchor.
Feel this breath,
The hands or the weight of the body.
Really covering the whole breath,
The area of the body that you've chosen with your entire awareness.
And now,
If you find that there are other sensations in your body that start to pull your attention away,
You can let your anchor go and bring your attention to whatever it is that's calling out.
Sending your mind a message.
It could be an intense sensation,
Maybe from sitting.
Maybe there's something,
Some injury or condition that you're holding in your body.
That is calling to you.
And as you notice that,
As you now bring your attention to that,
Bring the same sense of curiosity and openness to hold that sensation.
So you might describe the sensation,
It could be a sense of pressure or tingling.
Perhaps there's a subtle sensation you can feel.
Maybe some pulsing,
Beating,
A sense of aliveness.
And when you've held that area in your attention for a short while,
You might notice whether the sensation shifts or changes as you hold it with your attention,
This openness.
And then come back to your anchor.
And stay with your anchor,
With your breath or with the feeling of your hands or the weight of your body for some time until you notice that somewhere else in the body calls your attention.
It might be the same place,
It might be somewhere different,
It might be the same sensation or something different.
Meet it in this new moment with freshness and curiosity.
And really feel the sensation before you come back to the breath again.
And then just for the remaining time,
You might like to sit up a little straighter if the posture's dripped and bring your full attention back to your anchor again.
You might once again take a few slightly deeper breaths in and out.
Fully feel yourself sitting on the ground or on your chair.
And take this opportunity if you like to offer up any benefits or insights that you might have gained in your practice to someone in the world that might need some positivity today.
As you hear the sound of the bell,
You can gently draw the palms of your hands together in front of your heart.
And whenever you're ready,
You can bow your head,
Gently open your eyes and get on with your day.
Thank you for joining me in this practice.
Namaste.
