Awareness Of Breath With Counting, Light Guidance - 12 Minutes

This will be an awareness of breath practice.

Finding a comfortable seat,

Closing your eyes or lowering your gaze,

And briefly calling to mind what brings you here to practice.

And taking one deeper than normal in-breath with an audible exhale to mark the transition into formal practice and allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm.

Noticing the experience you're having,

What is it like to be you right now?

You you Now directly experiencing the body breathing,

Tracing each breath from start to finish,

Simply being aware of the raw sensations of breathing,

Resting your attention wherever you feel the breath most easily today,

And staying here.

You you you you Now experimenting with the practice of counting breaths,

Softly labeling one after the next inhale and two on the exhale,

All the way to ten.

If you reach ten,

Beginning again at one.

When your mind wanders,

Noticing this opportunity to practice returning your attention to the breath with a small smile and starting again with the next breath.

You you you you you you you you you you you you you As our practice draws to a close,

Taking a moment to acknowledge yourself for having spent this time cultivating greater ease,

Focus,

And concentration.

Taking one deeper than normal in-breath,

And on the exhale,

Opening the eyes,

Raising the gaze,

And orienting to the room around you.

Thank you for your practice.

Nice work.