Hi and welcome to today's practice.
So finding a comfortable position,
Roll your shoulders,
Let them drop,
Have a fidget,
Have a stretch,
Do whatever you have to do to get as comfortable as you can in this moment.
And then close your eyes or you can have a soft fixed gaze at a point in front of you,
Either works well.
I'm just taking the first few moments to be still,
To really settle into your posture.
And then taking some deep breaths in and out through the nose,
Inhaling slowly,
Exhaling and letting go.
Just allowing the body to soften as much as it can.
And then if you haven't already,
Allow your breath to return to a rhythm.
And start to become aware of the sensations of touch,
The sensations of contact with whatever is supporting you.
Feet on the floor,
Maybe hands in your lap,
Clothes touching you.
Notice that feeling of weight pressing down,
The support keeping you stable.
Now becoming aware of any sounds that are close by in the room or building with you.
Or those that are further away,
Like the traffic,
The birds,
The world outside moving and doing.
Just noticing they're coming and going without getting pulled away by them or labeling them.
Getting a sense of your own stillness in this moment,
While life is happening in the external world.
Now becoming aware of how the body is feeling in a very general,
Light way.
Then noticing any sensations in the body.
Noticing if particular sensations come and go,
Or if they stick around for a bit.
Or you can notice the whole field of sensation within the body.
And then becoming aware of your breathing.
And to start with,
Noticing the movement of your belly.
Allowing it to soften if there's tension there.
And noticing that when you inhale,
It feels like a balloon,
Gently stretching as it feels.
And then noticing how it gently gets pulled back towards the spine,
Deflating as you exhale.
Becoming aware of the movement and the sensations of the breath in that part of your body.
And then as well as observing the movement and sensations of the breath in the belly,
Become aware of the movement of the ribs,
Rising as you gently inhale,
And then falling as you exhale.
The belly and the ribs moving together as the breath moves effortlessly in and out.
And now opening your awareness to the movement of your chest and shoulders.
Opening,
Rising with the inhale,
And softly lowering with the exhale.
Belly filling,
Rising and falling of the ribs,
Chest and shoulders.
Just being aware of the sensations and the movement.
And opening your awareness again to taking the sensations of the breath as it enters and leaves the nose.
The sensation of cool air moving in,
And of warm air leaving the nose.
The belly,
Ribs,
Chest,
Shoulders,
Your nose.
The body responding to your breathing.
Noticing these all blend together,
Or how different sensations of each part move from the foreground to the background of your awareness.
As you simply breathe.
And if you become distracted or lost in thought,
That's totally fine.
It will happen at some point.
Return your awareness to the movement of the belly.
Find your rhythm once more,
And then open the awareness to take in the whole field of sensation and movement of the breath.
And now letting the technique go.
And just resting for a moment in the space you've created.
Becoming aware of the sensations of contact with the chair or the floor.
Noticing that feeling of weight pressing down.
Noticing sounds around you,
Close by,
Far away.
Noticing the temperature of the space that you're in,
And how the body's feeling.
And when you're ready,
Opening the eyes or lifting your gaze,
And finding a fixed point in front of you.
Noticing color,
Shape,
Textures.
Mindfully observing,
And grounding yourself in this space once more.
So thank you for joining me today,
And I look forward to sitting with you next time.
