Welcome to the awareness of breath practice.
Beginning by sitting in a comfortable position that allows you to be relaxed,
Alert,
Awake.
And if it's comfortable for you sitting upright with both feet on the floor,
Allowing your body to be supported by the chair and floor beneath you.
Feeling free to close your eyes for this practice or keep them open.
And if you keep them open,
Perhaps finding a spot three feet ahead of you or so to just rest a gentle gaze.
Beginning by taking a few deep and slow breaths,
Inviting yourself into the present moment.
And as you sit here breathing,
Bringing awareness into the felt sense of the body.
Just taking stock of how the body generally feels right now.
Is there a heaviness,
A lightness,
A warmth,
A coolness to the body?
Is there a slow energy or perhaps a jumpiness or a raciness within?
What's here in the body now?
Letting the body be just as it is.
Things are perfect as they are right now.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
And if you're noticing any regions of the body where you may be carrying or holding on to tension or tightness,
And maybe giving the muscles some permission to let go and release as you breathe out.
There's no expectation to relax here,
But only if it feels right and possible to let some tightness or tension go.
Then doing so.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
When you're ready now,
Settling your awareness on the breath in the body wherever you're feeling it most vividly.
You may choose to notice the breath at the belly,
Feeling the abdomen expand and contract on each in and out breath.
Perhaps noticing the breath at the chest,
Feeling the walls of the lungs expand and contract on the inflow and the outflow.
Maybe noticing breath at the nostrils,
Feeling cool air moving in through the nostrils and slightly warmer air moving out.
Maybe just noticing the whole body's movement as breath enters the body and leaves the body.
There's no right or wrong way to do this.
There's no need to analyze or count the breath or breathe in any special way.
Just breathing here and now and sensing into the felt sense of what breath feels like in this body.
What is it like for you to be sitting here now,
Alive and breathing?
When you notice the mind has wandered away from the sensations of breathing,
Congratulating yourself for noticing.
This is not a problem at all.
In fact,
It's very normal for the mind to wander to all sorts of places,
To sounds,
Thoughts,
Emotions.
When you notice this,
Simply acknowledging wherever the mind went and then with lots of kindness and lots of gentleness,
Tenderness.
Guiding attention back to the sensations of breathing again and again as many times as you need.
And where's the mind now?
And where's the breath in the body?
And where's the breath out?
Whenever you're ready now,
Gathering your awareness and expanding attention to notice sensation throughout the whole body.
What sensations are here in the whole body from the toes up through the crown of the head?
And moving awareness outward now,
Directing your attention once again to where the feet meet the floor and the legs and back meet the chair.
Opening the ears to notice sounds around you.
And whenever you're ready,
Taking all of the time you need to slowly open your eyes if they're closed and fully reorient to the space around you.
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