Before I do my talk on mindfulness of breathing,
I wanted to guide you through the short practice where you can center your attention on your breath so you can give your body and mind an opportunity to connect and to arrive to here and now.
You can settle your body into a comfortable position.
It's entirely up to you if you want to close your eyes or keep them open.
You can start with checking in,
Observing your position in space,
Places of connection to the ground,
A supportive surface.
This would be a good time to check in with the sounds that are present in your environment.
Then we can turn our attention to the breathing by first taking a couple of cleansing,
Deep long breaths,
And then you can see if you can bring in the fresh energy of this moment with the inhale,
And then release and let go of whatever you brought in with you from earlier.
Just exhale.
You can allow your body to breathe itself in whichever way it wants.
See if you can trust that it knows how to do it without you micromanaging it.
My invitation would be to see if you can observe yourself breathing as you would watch somebody you care for,
Like a loved one or a small child or even a pet,
Breathing peacefully in the sleep.
See if you can observe it quietly with the same sense of wonder and tenderness.
See if you can imagine the possibility of observing the body breathing without judging or changing it and just simply allowing it to exist in whichever form it is present right now.
Shallow or deep,
Fast or slow,
Chubby or smooth,
Doesn't matter.
The point is to be a kind witness to the process and not to control the outcome.
See what happens as you observe this in this manner.
You can also try to inquire with your body where do you feel your breathing the easiest right now.
Notice the qualities of your breath.
Its depth.
Its rhythm.
The sense of flow.
Notice what happens to it as you're treating it with your sustained kind attention.
And if there are any distractions or judgments that arrive,
See if you can meet that with this kind acknowledgement and gently bring your attention back to the breath-centered sensation.
Now,
You can take the deep,
Smooth breath to expand your body and prepare it to re-engage with the outside.
I'm going to go ahead and ring the bell to help with the transition.
