Welcome.
This is a meditation for oxygen mask meditation,
Meditation and yoga for parents and caregivers of special needs children.
Before beginning your meditation practice today,
Find a place where your body can be comfortable.
Make sure you have adequate support for your back.
Allow yourself to sit and find support for your hands and feet if that feels comfortable.
Once you have found a place for your body to be relaxed and comfortable,
Close your eyes and just begin to notice your breath.
As you notice your breath,
Begin to feel the chest rise with each inhale and feel the chest fall with each exhale.
As you begin to focus your attention and your awareness on the sensation of the chest rising and the chest falling,
Perhaps you begin to slow the breath down just a bit.
And then with that slowing down of the breath,
Begin to allow the breath to flow freely in through your nose and out through your nose.
Take just a moment to notice the temperature of air right outside of your nose.
As you notice the temperature of air right outside of your nose,
Just take it in and allow it to go out.
That awareness on the breath in and out through your nose.
Begin to count your breath,
Giving your mind an anchor to just draw down to.
As you inhale,
Breathe in for four.
As you exhale,
Breathe out for four.
Simply letting your mind rest and focus on just counting your breath.
As this begins to occur naturally,
Organically,
You may notice thoughts or images coming into the mind.
Allow those things to come in.
But with that allowance,
Take your mind back to just counting.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Inhale.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
Anchoring the mind to the counting.
Breathing in through your nose.
Breathing out through your nose.
As you notice thoughts,
Images,
Or even sensations in the body coming in,
Allow those things.
Do not try to take your mind off of them.
Do not shut them out or disassociate from sensation or feeling or thought.
Simply return to just counting.
Inhale.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Let your mind just anchor to that counting.
Keeping the breath in through your nose and out through your nose.
If you forget,
It's okay.
You simply return.
Allow your mind to anchor to the counting.
If you forget that you're counting,
Know that that is the point of this meditation.
To transcend the awareness that you are counting.
When sensations are coming in,
When you feel sensation in your body.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
The mind anchors.
The mind returns.
With that counting,
Dipping down below the conscious thoughts,
Letting them come.
Breathing in through your nose.
Breathing out through your nose.
Sensation in the mind.
Sensation in the body.
Simply allow.
Simply return.
Each time.
Let each time.
Just to the counting.
Letting your mind have a job.
The simple job of being aware of counting your breath.
The inhale.
In for four.
The exhale.
Out for four.
Allowing the consciousness to dip down below.
As soon as the mind begins to wander,
Not fighting,
But knowing the mind's job is to think.
Allow it just to think on the counting.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Simply letting the mind rest simply on the counting.
Thoughts,
Images,
Sensation,
Not a problem.
Simply returning over and over again.
As you feel your body breathing,
The gentle act of inhaling,
The gentle act of exhaling.
Just letting your thoughts be on counting.
Breathing.
Allowing.
When you feel ready,
Take a big inhale and hold the breath in for just a moment.
Feel that energy rising in through the body and then open your mouth.
Take a big long exhale,
A sigh.
Release the breath.
Feel the entire body relax.
Take a moment to sit and feel the sensation of the body relaxed,
The mind relaxed.
Knowing that you can sit and simply enjoy the breath for as long as you like.
Thank you.