Welcome to this breath awareness meditation brought to you by Human Evolution.
So let's adopt a comfortable position.
It can be sitting,
Lying,
Anything in which you feel you're going to be supported to do this practice.
So take your time to get comfortable.
You can use cushions to support your back,
Your head.
If you're lying you can put a cushion under your knees.
Maybe use a blanket for warmth.
Just take a few moments to adjust your posture.
Make sure that your arms are supported with your hands either resting by your sides or on your lap if you're seated.
Your back is supported.
Let's start to feel into the physical body.
Soften the face,
The jaw and the hands.
Start to feel into those places where the body is in contact with other things like the ground or your chair or the clothes you're wearing.
Tune into those sensations.
This living,
Breathing body that's with us every moment of every day.
How often we lose touch with our moment to moment reality.
Often we're thinking about something else,
Planning.
So this is an opportunity to make contact again with our body.
And with the sensations that are arising every moment of every day.
The invitation is to put down any concerns,
Any thoughts or plans.
You can always come back to them later.
As you start to drop your awareness into feeling into the body.
You'll notice that although we are still,
The body is moving.
Moving under the influence of the breath.
A gentle rhythm is always ebbing and flowing.
So the invitation is to bring the awareness to gently rest on the movements of the breath.
You don't need to change anything.
There's nothing to do.
We're just observing the passage of the breath as it flows through the body in and out.
See if there can be a sense of allowing the breath.
Welcoming it even.
And perhaps releasing a little on the exhale.
Notice where you personally feel the breath moving most strongly in your body.
Perhaps you feel it at the nose,
The nostrils.
In the throat.
Perhaps you feel it in the chest.
In the back.
Maybe even the belly.
And perhaps you feel the breath moving in your body.
And what sensations do you feel where it is moving?
Bring your focus to that area.
See what you feel comes up in your experience.
If you're feeling it at the nose,
Perhaps you can feel the movement of the air on the skin as you breathe in and out.
What's the temperature like?
Is it pleasant?
Or if you're feeling it in your chest or your belly,
What's that like?
Is there any tightness?
Does it feel even?
If you notice any tightness,
See if you can allow it to soften a little.
Just to release,
To relax.
There's no right way to do this.
Whatever is coming up for you is your genuine present moment experience.
So let's try not to judge it.
Let's see if we can allow whatever we notice to just arise and be there.
As part of life,
Part of living in this body right now.
Just as we allow each breath to come and go.
We may notice that as the breath comes and goes,
It's constantly changing.
No two breaths are exactly the same.
Just like our experience as we pass through life.
Changing,
Developing.
Allowing.
You might find as we do this practice that the mind wanders.
You start to notice things that you want to do in your mind.
Planning,
Remembering things.
So if you become aware that your mind is wandering,
That's okay.
That's what minds do.
Just see as best you can if you can bring it back to focus on the breath.
You haven't done anything wrong if your mind has wandered.
In fact,
It's normal.
We can't avoid this.
And in our mindfulness practice,
What we try to do is notice when this has happened.
And then gently,
Lovingly bring our attention back to the present moment.
And the breath is our friend in the present moment.
Because it's always there from the moment we're born to the moment we die.
A rich resource that we can always tap into.
So if you find that your mind is wandering,
Spinning you a story,
Bring it back to what we're doing.
Even if you have to do it a hundred times.
Each time you do it,
It's a moment of self-awareness.
So following the breath in and out.
Imagine a sense of the whole body breathing.
The whole body being nourished,
Moved by the rhythm of breathing.
See if you can follow one whole in-breath.
Notice the pause between the breaths.
One whole out-breath.
See if you can follow this with your mind and in your physical body with the sensations that arise from the breath.
This isn't that easy to do because our minds will try to wander.
Just bring your mind back to the breath every time you catch it wandering.
See if you can follow a whole breath all the way from inhalation through to exhalation.
Living in this present moment with our breathing body.
Feel the breath nourishing every part of your body.
Bringing a sense of rhythm into our daily life.
Always there.
Always supporting us.
Breathing in and out.
As best you can,
Softening around the breath.
If there's any areas of tightness or any wish to control the breath,
Just allow it to be the way it is.
Let's now bring the focus to feeling the movement of the breath in the chest,
Abdomen and back of the body.
Feel as the breath moves how it affects the way we feel the surfaces that are touching the body.
Clothes that we wear or if we're lying down how that feels against the ground or the bed.
Feel into the body as a whole,
Fingers and toes,
Into the face,
Into the backs of the legs and soles of the feet.
Feel connected to yourself right now.
Let's broaden the awareness now beyond the body into the room.
To other people here with us,
Beyond the room,
Any noises we can hear.
Gently move the fingers and toes.
And open the eyes.
Thank you.
