Mindfulness Of Breathing

Maybe starting by just taking a few deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.

No need to start meditating yet.

Just giving your body,

Your heart,

And your mind an opportunity to catch up with each other here in this moment,

Reminding yourself that right here,

Right now,

There's nowhere to go,

Nothing to do,

And no right or wrong way for things to be.

So all you need to do is just watch what arises,

Be present,

And be kind.

We'll start by bringing all of the awareness to the very top of the head,

Just as best as you can,

Gathering your awareness right at the crown of the head.

With that awareness gathered at the top of the head,

We'll slowly start to scan down the body,

Searching for any points of tension that may need softening.

So scanning down slowly into the eyebrows,

Unfurrowing them if needed,

Scanning down,

Softening the cheeks,

Unclenching the jaw,

Just inviting softness into the whole face,

Into the whole head.

Scanning down into the neck and the throat,

And softening if needed,

Maybe even taking a moment to thank your throat and your neck for how it served you today,

And your speech with your voice,

Just giving this part of the body an opportunity to rest.

Continuing to scan down into the shoulders,

Allowing them to fall away from the ears.

We spend so much time bunching up our shoulders and holding stress in this place,

So inviting softness,

Letting go.

Scanning from the shoulders into the tops of the arms,

All the way down into the elbows,

The forearms,

And into the hands,

Maybe even taking a moment to feel what it's like to simply have your hands resting.

Continuing to invite softness into the body by scanning into the chest,

And the top of the back,

The abdomen,

And the middle of the back,

Softening the belly,

And the lower back.

Remembering that we're inviting softness into the body,

Not forcing it,

And that we can be with whatever arises,

Just as it is.

Scanning down into the hips,

And softening,

Then into the point of contact with the chair or cushion,

And taking a moment to notice the support that this chair or cushion underneath you provides,

And noticing that underneath that chair or cushion there is a floor,

And underneath the floor there is earth.

Noticing that you are supported by the earth itself in this moment,

And seeing if you can let that ground you a bit,

And invite this element of groundedness into the body.

Continuing to scan down into the legs,

Inviting this soft groundedness into the tops of the legs,

And the knees,

The shins,

And the calves,

The ankles,

All the way to the bottoms of the feet,

And then just resting.

Resting in this still body,

Resting in this soft,

Grounded,

Still place.

Noticing that even amidst this stillness,

There is movement.

There are sounds,

Sensations,

Thoughts,

All coming and going.

One of these spots of movement you may notice is the breath.

Even in this still body,

There is the breath,

So I'll invite you to bring your awareness to this breath,

To wherever in the body you feel most connected,

Where you feel the movement of the breath.

For some,

This may be in the rising and falling of the chest or abdomen.

For others,

It may be in the base of the nostrils,

Or air passing through the throat.

Take a moment.

Ask yourself,

Where do I feel the breath?

Letting whatever spot you land on be good enough,

Just gather all of your awareness and place it right there,

Putting all of our attention on this beautiful old friend,

The breath.

The instructions from here are fairly simple.

They are breathing in,

Just know that you are breathing in,

And breathing out,

Just know that you're breathing out.

No need to manipulate the breath,

Make it any certain way,

Just breathing in,

Know you're breathing in.

Breathing out,

Know that you're breathing out.

You may notice the mind will start to wander.

The attention will fall away from the breath and move towards a myriad of places,

Towards sounds,

Stories,

Plans,

Pain in the body,

Daydreams,

And regardless of where the attention goes,

The instructions are the same.

When you notice that the mind has wandered,

In a kind and gentle way,

Just bring the awareness back to the breath.

Breathing in,

Knowing you're breathing in,

Breathing out,

Know that you're breathing out.

Again,

When you notice the mind wander away from the breath,

Try not to take it personally.

Try not to write a story,

Try not to get frustrated with yourself,

Because returning to the breath is the practice.

You can't return without falling away,

And this is the practice,

Just over and over again coming back,

Coming back to the breath,

Coming back to the anchor.

Now I'll invite you to take this focus and awareness that you've placed on your breath and see if you can shift it to your heart,

To what we call the heart center.

This is the place in the body where we experience joy and love.

For a lot of folks,

This is the center of the chest that is the heart.

For others,

It could be the belly.

Knowing you don't have to get it perfect and caring is enough,

Just bringing all your awareness to that heart center.

Some may find it helpful to place a hand on the heart center,

Deepen that connection a little bit.

See if you can almost imagine that you can breathe in and out of this heart center,

Connecting with your own deepest desire for well-being and peace,

Keeping the awareness on the heart center.

We'll silently offer this phrase to ourselves.

So silently in your mind,

Just trying on the phrase,

May I be at ease,

May I be at ease.

Just over and over again,

May I be at ease.

Now silently trying on the phrase,

May I be at peace,

May I be at peace.

May I be at peace.

May I be kind and gentle with myself.

May I be kind and gentle with myself,

And may I be filled with loving kindness.

May I be filled with loving kindness.

For these last few moments,

Just holding those phrases in your heart.