So just allowing your eyes to close if that feels comfortable for you,
Knowing that if you care to keep your eyes open,
You can.
Allowing your body to soften and loosen into a comfortable position.
And we'll begin by just listening to the sounds,
The sounds around us and within us.
Just allowing the sounds to come and go.
You don't need to do anything with the sounds,
You don't need to make anything happen.
We're simply hearing.
Being present with all the sounds around us.
And while we do this,
You may notice that your mind is wandering,
Knowing that that's perfectly natural.
But when you realize that it's happened and your attention has drifted away,
Just see if you can come back to hearing.
When you feel ready,
We'll just allow the sounds to kind of be there in the background and begin to become aware of our breathing.
Just beginning to become aware that you're breathing.
We're always breathing,
But it isn't something that we're always paying attention to.
So if it feels comfortable,
Just gathering your attention and bringing it to the tip of your nose or your mouth.
So begin to feel the sensations of the in-breath as it travels into your body and the sensations of the out-breath as it leaves your body.
You may notice the temperature of your breath.
Maybe the temperature of the in-breath feels different than the temperature of the out-breath.
There may be other sensations that you notice.
Just being with your breath,
One breath at a time.
Every breath is an opportunity to be present.
Your mind may wander constantly as we're doing this.
Just noticing when that's happening,
Seeing if you can let go of whatever has taken your attention away and in a non-judging way,
Just coming back to the breath and starting over.
Every breath is an opportunity to begin again,
To be present in this moment right here with this breath right now.
So just seeing if you can be present for one entire breath cycle,
One in-breath and one out-breath.
In a moment,
I'll ring the chimes to signal the end of this meditation.
And when you feel ready,
Just allowing your eyes to gently open.
