Welcome to the meditation.
Let's begin by just settling in.
Let your body settle.
You can let your breath settle.
Let your thoughts settle.
And pay particular attention to your exhale.
Notice the sensation in your lungs,
In your upper back,
In the lower part of your neck when you exhale.
The inhale comes in and fills everything out,
And then the exhale's releasing,
Kind of like squeezing the air out of a sponge.
And let your exhale naturally lengthen.
Don't force it to lengthen,
But as you pay attention to it,
Just let it expand into whatever space it wants to occupy.
Your lungs are contained in a skin.
They're wrapped,
And this skin is actually fairly sensitive.
So you may be able to feel the wrapping of the lungs expand with the inhale and then contract with the exhale.
Let your attention come to the place,
The turning point between the exhale and the inhale.
And see if you can notice what it is in your body that calls for the breath,
That decides that it's time to switch from exhale to inhale.
What's that feel like?
You can allow the exhale to extend just a little more,
That space to widen just a little bit,
Just to explore it,
Not with any force or pressure,
Just as a curious exploration.
At the end of every exhale,
Something in your body says yes to life.
Something in your body opens to receive the incoming breath.
It's an affirmation that goes on all day and all night,
No matter what you're thinking about,
No matter what you're doing.
Feel into that affirmation.
Where does it come from?
What does it feel like physically?
What does it feel like physically?
Every new in-breath is an act of trust,
An act of hope.
It's a revolutionary act in a world that's governed by entropy,
Where the tendency of things is to fall apart.
Every new breath says yes in the face of all the difficulty,
In the face of all the suffering.
All the complications of this world,
Yes.
I came here to do something and I'm not finished.
Every breath says yes,
There is goodness in this world.
And it's not just the larger,
More noticeable cycles of inhale and exhale,
It's every beat of your heart.
Every pulse of your heart sends blood throughout your entire body and then draws it back in.
See if you can feel that pulse,
The pulse of life,
The pulse of affirmation,
The pulse of hope.
If it helps to feel,
You can put your hand on your heart.
And beneath whatever pain,
Whatever fear,
Whatever the heart is carrying,
There's this affirmation that continues confident,
Persistent,
Deliberate.
Everything in you says yes over and over again.
Because of the relationship between your heart and your lungs,
Your entire body breathes,
Your entire body receives the nourishment of the breath and then releases.
And so as you feel into this affirmation of receiving,
Of taking in every breath,
Every moment,
Every new emerging reality,
You can also feel the release of the past,
The release of anything that you're carrying that doesn't need to be carried into the future with every exhale,
Release of thoughts,
Release of tension in the body.
Your heart beats,
Your body breathes,
You receive life,
The gift of life.
Come back to the physical sensation at the end of the exhale,
The call of the body for the breath.
And the flood of relief when the breath comes pouring in.
If you let the exhale linger,
The space at the end of the exhale linger just a bit,
Allowing the sensation of your body calling for breath to expand.
You may notice a flood of relief when the breath is received.
Even when you don't extend the exhale and accentuate that experience of relief,
It's there,
Underlies every transition from exhale to inhale.
And the relief of releasing the breath,
The transition from inhale to exhale,
When your body says,
Okay,
That's enough,
Let it go.
The call,
The receiving,
The drawing in and the releasing,
It's happening all the time.
And perhaps you feel the inherent natural organic gratitude for the breath.
Maybe your body is grateful for the breath.
Thank you for spending this time with me today.
Blessings on your day.
