Today,
We are practicing a mindfulness meditation on finding the breath.
The body is always breathing and the breath is constantly moving.
Your breath is not only the best place to start when you meditate,
It's a constant that you can return to at any time that you need a little centering.
In this first practice,
We will gently find the breath in the body.
There is nothing to figure out.
There are no problems to solve.
And there's nothing special that you need to do.
Gently return to your direct experience of the body breathing.
You are training the mind to be one with the experience of breathing,
Automatic breathing breath without distraction.
So I invite you to find a comfortable seated posture.
This could be on a meditation cushion,
Leaning up against a wall or sitting up tall on the edge of a chair.
Make sure that the body is comfortable and strong with an intelligent spine.
Take a few shoulder rolls up and back and inhale as you roll the shoulders up and open the mouth,
Exhale,
Release as you allow the shoulders to melt away from the ears.
Take another slow deep breath in,
Puff out your belly,
Fill up your chest,
Inhale all the way up,
Hold the breath.
Take another sip of air,
Another sip,
Open the mouth,
Let it go and drop down into your body.
Become aware of all the points of the body that are in contact with the earth.
Allow those points to become a little sharper,
Heavier.
Begin to tune into the natural breathing breath,
Automatic breathing breath without changing it or controlling it.
Simply notice the natural rhythm of the breath.
Either bring the vision slightly downward and soften the gaze or if you are comfortable,
Please close the eyes.
Allow the eyes to rest,
Relax.
The idea is to minimize any distractions in your practice.
Find the position for the body and either soften gaze or closed eyes.
Find what's comfortable for you in this moment right now and allow yourself to sustain it for a few minutes of stillness.
Now bring your awareness to the abdomen.
Relax the muscles of the abdomen.
See if you can feel the natural rising and falling of the abdomen during the natural breathing process.
Imagine that your body is breathing itself.
From the navel around the obliques,
Notice the movement with each breath.
Take a few slow deep breaths like this.
Now bring the awareness to those little places of stillness in between the inhales and exhales.
At the top of the inhale,
That little automatic pause that happens before it turns to exhale.
And at the bottom of the exhale,
That little place of stillness,
Automatic,
Before it turns to inhale.
Notice the emptiness between my words.
And now move the awareness up to the chest.
Notice how you inhale,
How the chest moves with the breath,
How it reacts.
Tune into the expansion of the lungs and the rising of the chest.
And notice how on each exhale,
You can feel the contraction and movement.
See if you can follow this feeling of the breath from the beginning of your inhalation through the end of your exhalation.
Take the awareness of the movement in the chest.
Allow the breath to remain automatic without controlling it,
Without changing it.
Slowly practice detached awareness.
Now bring your attention to the nostrils.
The feeling of the breath may be more subtle here.
Try taking a slow,
Deliberate,
Deep breath in through the nostrils and see what is present for you.
You may notice a slight tickle at the top of the nose as you breathe in.
And you may notice the breath is slightly warmer on the way out.
Be aware of this.
When the mind wanders,
Which it is built to do,
Gently refocus and redirect the mind to the direct experience of the automatic breathing breath.
Continue to observe the breath for a minute or two.
The natural tendency of the mind is to wander.
Even the most accomplished meditators have wandering minds.
The brain was designed to process information.
It's just doing its job.
Rather than seeing the mind wandering as a problem,
Approach it as an opportunity to strengthen your mindfulness.
Try to bring self-compassion.
Whenever the mind wanders and you catch it,
Very gently bring the awareness back to the breath.
Please continue.
Stay in touch with the breath in your body to help the mind remain present.
Exhale.
Remain present.
And stay in touch with the breath in your body to help the mind remain present.
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