Inhale deeply,
Exhale completely.
If it is possible for you,
Breathe only through your nose.
I invite you to place your attention in that process of inhaling and exhaling.
Begin by taking deep in-breaths and full out-breaths.
When you inhale,
Seek to feel that expansion in the abdomen region,
In the diaphragm,
In the ribcage,
And in the chest.
When you exhale,
Seek to release the air completely,
Letting go of the last drop of breath.
Your breath has four phases.
Inhalation is one,
Exhalation another.
If you observe carefully,
You can deepen that inhale that gradually expands the body more and more,
Little by little,
Seeking to use the full capacity of the lungs.
You can let go in exhalation with a light and gentle contraction of the abdominal muscles,
Seeking to release the air completely.
Now,
Let us observe the other two phases of the breath.
These are the pauses.
The pause after inhaling with the air within.
The pause after exhaling within is empty.
Just observe these pauses attentively,
Lovingly.
Observe calmly and with curiosity.
Inhale deeply.
Observe that brief pause.
Exhale completely.
Observe that brief pause.
These four phases were already there,
Happening always.
But now,
You are becoming fully conscious of their presence.
Do not produce these pauses,
Neither try to force them upon you.
Let them occur in a totally normal,
Natural way.
Allow them to take place as they are.
Letting the in-breath happen without grasping for the air.
Letting the out-breath happen without pushing the air away.
Inhale without sucking or pulling the air towards you.
Inhale without expelling or pushing the air away.
Now,
Let us seek to balance these four phases of the breathing.
Seek gently.
Seek that the inhalation lasts the same amount of time as the exhalation.
Inhaling lasts the same amount of time as exhaling.
Seek that the pauses last the same amount of time.
Each pause lasts the same amount of time as the other.
Make the inhalation last the same as the exhalation,
And make the pauses last the same.
Continue breathing like this,
Observing these four phases,
And calmly,
Joyfully,
Seek to keep them in balance.
Inhale deeply.
Exhale completely.
