Welcome to this sitting meditation with a breath as primary object of focus.
Come to sit in a comfortable seated position,
A position that allows you to be at ease and comfortable for the duration of the meditation.
Maybe you feel the need to make some small movements or adjustments to your seat.
If this is the case,
Then taking a moment to do so.
Whether you are on a chair or cushion,
Adopting an upright posture,
Lengthening the spine,
Bringing the crown of the head up,
Lengthening the whole backside of the body.
And also see if you can relax the shoulders back and down,
Maybe bringing the shoulders up on an inhale,
And on exhale bringing them back down.
Doing this a few times on your own breath,
Inhaling to roll the shoulders up and exhaling to roll them back down.
See how this opens the chest,
Having the shoulders down the back.
Coming to a posture that radiates this sense of dignity,
Upright,
Wakeful,
Open with this open chest,
Yet also relaxed and grounded,
Relaxing the muscles that you don't need,
The muscles in the face,
The shoulders,
And really feeling the sit bones as they touch the cushion,
The chair or the mat,
Relaxing the legs and the feet.
Allowing yourself some time to arrive in this moment,
Observing your body and breath as you are sitting here.
Allowing this to be some time for yourself,
Time to step out of the busyness of life,
Time to switch from our normal mode of doing,
Moving and reacting to one of simply being.
Bring your awareness to the breath and notice the breath moving in the body.
The body breathing itself,
We don't have to think about breathing,
We don't have to remember to breathe,
Just bring your attention to the breath without having to change it in any kind of way.
Perhaps noticing this kind of tendency or impulse to want to change it,
Just noticing that and allowing the breath to be as it is.
Allowing also the attending to the physical sensations of breath to bring you into the present moment.
Maybe the mind has wandered off into thought,
Or a certain story in your head.
The exercise is to simply notice that the mind has wandered,
And then with a friendly yet decisive attitude,
Bringing your awareness back to the breath.
Using the breath as an anchor to bring you back to the present moment,
Which is right here,
Right now,
With your body and the breath.
On the inhale you feel the belly rising,
The chest rising,
And on the exhale you feel the chest falling and the belly softly drawing in.
Just following this rhythm of the breath in the body.
And when the mind wanders,
Just gently guiding it back to following the rhythm of the breath by the belly and the chest.
Allowing the belly and the chest rising and falling on the breath.
Maybe you can notice this movement of the breath also along the upper back,
Or by the shoulders.
See if you can notice any movement there.
Softly and gently breathing in and out,
Noticing the movement of the breath by the shoulders.
Maybe there are even some sensations by the back of the neck.
Just noticing what movement the breath drives in the body.
Then shifting your awareness to the tip of the nose,
Noticing the air moving in and out of the body by the tip of the nose.
Maybe also noticing a difference in temperature between the air moving in and out of the body.
Maybe a cooler air coming into the body and slightly warmer air as it leaves the body.
Now see if you can shift your awareness to the full cycle of breath.
On the inhale,
Breathing in through the nose,
Allowing the air to move through the wind pipe,
Expanding the chest and the lungs,
The belly,
And on the exhale,
Noticing the air moving out of the body again.
Bringing your awareness to the full cycle of breath in the body.
From there,
See if you can notice where in the body you feel the breath the most.
So where in the body do you feel the breath the most vivid?
Whether it's the belly,
The chest,
The tip of the nose.
Just notice what is most vivid for you,
Or where the breath is most vivid for you,
And then bring your attention there.
So holding your attention at the point in the body where you feel the breath the most.
Enjoying the rhythm of the breath.
You may notice that although the instructions seem simple enough to stay focused on the breath,
That your attention has shifted.
Perhaps your mind wandered off into thinking,
Remembering a past event,
Or something in the future,
Planning,
Rehearsing,
Worrying,
Or something else has grabbed your attention,
Such as a sound or a sensation in the body,
Perhaps an urge to move.
As soon as you notice your attention has moved away from the physical sensations of breathing,
Simply noting what is on the mind,
And then gently guiding your attention back to the breath and the sensations of breathing,
In the point in the body where you feel the breath the most.
In this way,
Allowing the breath to be like an anchor,
Bringing you back to present moment awareness.
So now bringing your attention back to the breath,
To this point in the body where you feel the breath the most.
Holding your attention steady here,
As best as you can,
Following the rhythm of the breath.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And where is your attention now?
If you notice your mind has drifted off,
Then just gently,
With a friendly,
Loving,
Yet firm attitude,
Bringing your awareness back to the breath,
To the point in the body where you feel it most.
Now,
Bring your awareness to your body.
Often when we get lost in thought,
We tend to re-tense certain muscles habitually.
Now just taking a moment to notice if this is the case for you,
Scanning the body to see if you can re-relax any muscles that you don't need right now.
The muscles in the face,
The shoulders,
The legs,
And also rechecking in with your posture,
Noticing if you're still in this upright,
Yet relaxed posture.
And there after gently bringing your awareness back to the breath,
To your anchor,
To the point in the body where you feel the sensations of breathing the most.
Lindsay,
You ready?
Maybe you notice that the mind has wandered off in thought again.
Just notice that you are not doing anything wrong,
Just the quality or characteristic of the mind to wander.
Just guiding attention back to the breath in a friendly yet decisive manner.
In this way training the mind to come to the present moment over and over again.
Following the breath at the point in the body where you feel it most vivid,
Like waves angulating through the body.
Just practicing in this stateindomit Leonard And when the mind wanders,
Just gently guiding it back to following the rhythm of the breath,
And see if you can give your complete attention to the sensations of breathing,
Maintaining your attention on the breath as best as you can until you hear the sound of the bell,
Which will bring this practice to a close.
Faint bell
