Welcome to the Awareness of Breath Meditation.
To begin,
Find a quiet place where you can sit uninterrupted.
Find a comfortable position on a chair or on the floor on a cushion where you can still the body and be at ease.
Sit in a posture that embodies dignity,
Keeping the spine long and straight,
Letting the jaw and your shoulders drop.
The back of the body is long and strong.
The front of the body is soft and open.
The hands rest on the legs,
Relaxed and heavy,
Sensing a posture that embodies the qualities you wish to bring to your meditation practice,
Qualities of dignity,
Openness and kindness.
Invite yourself to fall back into your own silence,
Into stillness.
Allow your eyes to close if that feels comfortable to you.
If you wish to keep them open,
Look ahead and in front of you with a soft gaze.
Begin your practice with an intention to acknowledge that you're dedicating some precious time to meditation,
Recognizing that it is an act of self-care and self-appreciation.
This is the time we set aside from our usual daily tasks and our tendency to be doing,
To switch to a mode of non-doing,
To simply being.
Allowing and acknowledging whatever is within,
Sensations in the body,
Perhaps feelings or thoughts from yesterday or the day's events or whatever has been going on with you recently,
And just let them be for what they are.
No need to analyze or evaluate.
And as you allow your body to become still,
Gently bring your attention to the fact that you're breathing,
A breathing body.
Not manipulating the breath or trying to change it,
Simply being aware of it and the sensations associated with breathing.
Observing and registering your breath.
Perhaps it is deep or light,
Relaxed or nervous,
Tight or fluid or something else.
Taking the perspective now that there is nothing more important than simply being totally here in each moment,
With each breath,
Exactly the way it is,
Breath by breath by breath.
Not trying to get anywhere,
Not trying to achieve anything.
This is a time to stop doing and to simply be with your breathing self exactly the way it is in each moment.
As you breathe in,
Becoming aware of the movement of the breath as it comes into the body and as you breathe out,
As it leaves the body.
You will find that from time to time,
You will be able to see the breath.
You will find that from time to time,
The attention has wandered from the breath,
Thoughts,
Fantasies,
Worrying,
Memories of the past,
Planning for the future,
Whatever.
When you notice that your attention is no longer here,
No longer on your breathing and without giving yourself a hard time,
Just kindly and intentionally escort your focus back to breathing,
Picking up wherever it happens to be,
On an in or out breath,
Reminding yourself that the wandering mind is perfectly normal.
This is simply how the mind works.
Once you notice that your attention has drifted,
Gently and firmly escorted back to the breath,
Making the breath the center,
The focus of attention again.
Noticing where you sense your in breath most.
Noticing where you sense the out breath most.
The nostrils,
The back of the throat,
Perhaps in the chest or belly.
And when you're ready and if this is comfortable for you,
Feeling your breath in your belly.
If it helps you,
You might want to place your hand on your belly,
Sensing the belly expanding with each inhalation and contracting with each exhalation.
Perhaps sensing your abdominal wall as it expands gently on the in breath and falls back towards your spine on the out breath.
Feel how you breathe in and out,
Inhaling and exhaling,
Giving full care and attention to each in breath and to each out breath as they follow each other,
One after the other,
In a never ending cycle and flow,
Bringing curiosity to this moment.
A little bit further back.
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