Hello and welcome to this awareness of breath practice.
You are developing key mental skills by being here right now.
Great work.
As you get comfortable in a seated and alert position,
Just a quick reminder why this practice is important.
When done regularly,
This meditation will dramatically improve the brain's ability to concentrate and sustain focus for longer periods of time.
And it will increase your ability to understand and feel what's going on inside your body.
The intention of this practice is to establish the breath as an anchor for a wandering and distracted mind.
Learning to note and count the breath is an effective way to quiet and focus our mind.
So first,
Let's settle in.
Go ahead and close your eyes and take a full breath in through the nostrils.
And when you're ready,
Open your mouth and let it go.
There's nothing to do right now,
Nothing to accomplish.
Just experience being here in this moment.
If there are any thoughts or stories still running through your mind,
Maybe just watch them float off into the distance.
Now let's check in with the body.
What does it feel like to be sitting in the position you're in?
Scan and notice all the sensations throughout the body.
Again,
No need to do or fix anything at this moment.
Just feeling into the body,
Feeling the pressure through the hips and seat.
Noticing the knees and elbows,
Ankles and wrists.
Maybe even sensing the beating of the heart.
Just noting.
Now turning your spotlight of attention from the body to the experience of breathing in the body.
You don't need to control the pace or depth of the breath.
Just breathing normally in and out through the nose.
Just observing the breath in and out.
As you settle deeper into stillness,
Continue to approach the experience with curiosity.
Noting any sensations associated with the breath in and out.
Watching each exhale until it dissolves and then watching the natural impulse to grab the next inhale.
In and out.
Feeling the coolness of the breath at the tip of the nostrils on the way in and slightly warmer on the way out.
Now moving your focus of attention toward the chest and observing the sensations of inflating and deflating of the lungs.
The expanding and contracting of the ribs.
Scanning the air flow through the lungs.
Scanning down further sensing the belly rise and fall on each breath.
And finally resting your attention on the breath where you sense it most and staying here for a few moments.
Now you may begin the practice of counting the breath.
Mentally whispering one after the next breath in and two as you breathe out.
All the way to ten.
Once you reach ten start again at one and count for another cycle.
We will practice counting in silence for the next few moments.
Ready,
Set,
Go.
It's normal to occasionally get distracted by sounds or thoughts or sometimes even experience sleepiness.
When that happens recommit to coming back to the breath.
Feeling and counting each inhale and each exhale.
One on the next breath in and two on the next breath out.
Now dropping the counting practice but staying with the sensations of breathing in the body as a whole.
Breathing in and breathing out from the entire body.
Completely aware of your current experience.
The experience of being alive,
Awake and in the flow of this moment.
In this mind and this body.
As we finish this practice you can be confident that you are building greater focus and concentration and that you are increasing your capacity to live and perform more mindfully.
Great work and I hope you'll join me again tomorrow for another practice.
This practice will end with the sound of a bell.
