Hello,
My name is Rachel Tenenbaum,
And I'll be guiding you through your meditation today.
Whether you're needing a moment to pause or to de-stress from current circumstances,
From work,
From life,
This meditation is intended to give you a moment to breathe and to step out of the mental mania that can have us wrapped in knots.
Science tells us that our brains,
Which are approximately 2% of our body weight,
Require approximately 20% of our entire oxygen intake.
And yet,
We can go throughout our days hardly breathing sips of air.
And that breath,
Those deep inhales,
Turn off that sympathetic nervous system,
That fight,
That fight or that freeze,
So that we can truly access our fullest brains,
The prefrontal cortex,
That executive functioning that allows us to see clearly,
To strategize,
To plan,
To vision.
And so the invitation in this moment is to set everything aside,
Whether it is literally setting aside papers,
Computers,
Or metaphorically reaching into your brain and grabbing a hold of whatever has its grip on your mind,
Just setting it outside the doorway of your mind so that you can truly give yourself the gift of this next moment.
Go ahead and close your eyes if you haven't already done so and take a deep inhale,
Breathe in,
And as if you were blowing out candles,
Slowly letting it go.
One more again,
Inhale,
Breathe in,
Fill up,
And as if you were blowing out candles,
Allowing that breath to expire from your body.
The masters say that with every breath,
With every moment,
It's like a new birth.
You can begin again.
And with this next breath,
Allowing yourself to begin again.
Inhale,
Expand your ribs,
Your front ribs,
Your side ribs,
Your back ribs,
And then soften along the length of the exhale.
Inhale,
Breathe in,
Expand your ribs,
Your front ribs,
Your side ribs,
Your back ribs.
Allow yourself to feel full,
Pausing at the top.
And then watch yourself soften again as you exhale.
This time,
As you breathe in,
Inhale,
Expand your ribs,
Expand your lungs,
And breathe all the way into the pit of the belly.
Again softening as you exhale,
Perhaps watching the shoulders drop down away from the ears.
This time,
As you continue to breathe,
Just notice where the breath wants to go.
Where are you holding on to tension?
Any sense of unease?
Realizing yourself to feel this body breathing.
This body that has breathed.
Beginning to expand the breath,
Inhaling to the count of four,
Three,
Two,
One.
And then releasing four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Again inhaling for four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhaling for four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Exhaling to breathe,
Perhaps using that count.
Expanding the breath with every inhale,
Being with the breath.
Allowing the breath to expire from your body to release any tension with every exhale.
The nature of the mind is to wander.
It's what it does.
And so when you notice it,
Smiling as if it were a kid that got away and wanted to play,
And bring it back to your breath,
To this moment.
And then you can hear that as you breathe in,
No two breaths are alike.
Getting curious about what this breath feels like.
And begin to expand your breath further this time to the count of five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
And then softening five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
You can keep breathing to the count of four,
Five,
For as long as you desire.
Knowing that at any moment,
With just a single breath,
You can always begin again.
Thank you for sharing your breath,
Your time,
With me.
Namaste.
Thank you.
