Today,
We would like us to practice breath meditation.
First,
We will practice breathing for a few minutes to prepare the mind for the practice of meditation and we will do it with a ratio and then we will figure out the baseline to which you will come back as needed and we will set up the anchor for the concentration.
And finally,
We will make a transition from controlling the breath to watching it in meditation practice.
So let's start with making ourselves comfortable.
Sitting with the back straight,
Relaxed shoulders,
Hands in your lap with palms facing up,
Right on the left.
You can also keep your hands on the knees in Chin Muhvra with the index fingers and thumbs touching and the palms facing up.
You can stay parallel to the floor,
Eyes either close,
Just gently shut with the light still coming through.
Please take a few deep breaths through the nose and sigh through the mouth.
So let's inhale.
And again,
Nice deep breath in.
Maybe one more time,
Let's inhale deeply through the nose and a satisfying breath out through the mouth.
And we will switch now to breathing in and out only through the nose to activate the parasympathetic nervous system which makes the meditation possible or easier.
We'll breathe with a ratio for a few minutes.
First just breathe for a few moments and see how long your inhalations are.
Just count your breath in your head and make sure that you are comfortable with your breath.
Breathing in and out through your nose,
Not changing anything for the moment.
Just counting how long your inhalations are and for how long you exhale.
And you can start extending the exhalations so they're a bit longer than your inhalations.
Do it gradually so it's comfortable.
You want the exhalation to be longer than your inhalation.
Let's say you're inhaling to the count of four,
Making the exhalation be five,
Six or seven.
Just like that for a few moments in and out through the nose if that's possible.
And notice the pause after each exhalation just before you inhale again.
We'll try to extend this pause gradually.
Don't hold the breath.
Just pause after each time you exhale for the count of one or two.
Exhaling that for a few moments,
Extending the pause.
If you see that any part of the breath makes you strain,
Go back to the last comfortable ratio.
That will be your baseline.
That will be your breath.
Keep practicing that for a moment.
Now,
Bring your awareness to the nose and notice the cool air coming into your nostrils and the warmer air leaving them.
This is your anchor point of your concentration.
Pay attention to that for a moment.
Good.
Now we'll make a transition from the pranayama,
From the breathing exercise to the meditation on breath.
We'll switch from manipulating the breath to watching it.
No counting,
No changing anything,
No controlling at all.
Just witnessing and knowing which part of the breath is taking place.
When you inhale,
Simply know that you are inhaling and when you exhale,
Know that you are exhaling.
Noticing the pauses without changing anything.
We'll practice that for 10 minutes or so and every now and then,
You will notice that you maybe want to control the breath or that your mind is somewhere else.
As soon as you see that,
As many times as you need to,
Come back to your baseline breath,
To your ratio,
To the anchor and hold on to it until you are ready to let go of the practice of the control again.
So let's practice that for about 10 minutes or so.
Inhaling,
Exhaling,
Noticing the pauses and just watching that.
We'll practice that for 10 minutes or so.
We'll practice that for 10 minutes or so.
You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you notice how you feel if you haven't done so yet you can open your eyes now bow into your inner teacher namaste
