Mindful Driving, Breath Practice

Parked safely,

Become aware of the seat beneath you,

Let your feet be equal on the floor and let your weight rock back into the sit bones,

Letting the spine come tall,

Bring your hands to the sides of the ribcage and feel the breath moving there,

Just noticing the way the breath moves in and out of the body,

Not changing,

Not judging,

Simply feeling the breath as it moves in and out of the chest,

You may also be able to feel your heartbeat,

Acknowledge how this feels to you,

Acknowledge if the heart is fast or steady or perhaps you're tuned into the feelings through the heartbeat,

Perhaps it feels stressed and short or relaxed and steady,

However the heart beats feeling,

Just acknowledging and with the next inhale see if you can really expand the ribcage a little more,

Stretching into the hands,

Stretching through the spaces between the ribs,

These muscles are the intercostal spaces,

Letting those intercostal spaces open,

Letting them stretch,

Letting them release any tension they're holding,

Just enjoying the process of opening the ribcage,

Stretching it with the breath,

Letting the rhythm of the breath be natural and steady,

You'll notice that naturally there is an inhale and a pause and then following the exhale there's another pause,

You may also notice the gentleness of the changeover between the pauses and the inhale or the inhale and the pause,

There's a gentleness and a flow,

One stage of the breath merges into the next and I invite you for the next couple of breaths to make the inhales a little bigger,

Let them stretch the ribcage just a little more and let them go down to the belly,

Opening the ribcage into the belly and then relaxing and releasing with each exhale,

You may notice with the exhale the tips of the shoulders begin to relax,

The neck relaxes,

Jaw relaxes,

Whole body relaxes,

Whole mind relaxes,

Just allowing a few breaths for the whole body and mind to relax and become present in this moment,

You may notice your tummy grumbles,

Perhaps it's going to begin digesting the lunch that you had hours ago,

Beautiful,

Well done,

Thank you for listening,

Until next time be happy,

Be safe and be kind