Welcome to Breath and Body Awareness Meditation with Alternate Ending Times.
You may choose to meditate for 10,
15,
Or 20 minutes.
At the beginning of meditation,
You'll hear the single bell,
And then after 10 minutes,
You'll hear another single bell.
After 15 minutes,
You'll hear two bells.
And after 20 minutes,
You'll hear three.
The meditator may choose how long they want to meditate.
Now let's begin.
Find your comfortable meditation position.
If you're sitting in a chair,
Your feet should be flat on the floor.
Your hands resting comfortably on your lap,
Either face up or face down.
You may also be sitting on the floor,
Perhaps on a cushion to lift your hips.
Your back should be nice and long with support,
If that's needed.
And your eyes closed or gently capped with a downward gaze.
Begin by bringing your attention to your breath.
This is a gentle,
Bare awareness.
Simply noticing the inhale,
The exhale,
The natural ebb and flow of your breath.
And during meditation,
Your breath may speed up or slow down.
Don't try to change or control your breath.
Simply notice any shifts.
And now let's take three long,
Slow,
Deep breaths in your own time,
Making sure that your exhale is longer than your inhale.
And noticing those natural pauses at the top of the inhale and bottom of the exhale.
The long,
Slow,
Deep breaths send a message to your nervous system to slow down.
And we can use this any time during the day that we need to pause and reset.
And then returning to your natural breath pattern.
And now beginning the body scan.
As we scan the body,
Noticing sensations,
Heat,
Coolness,
Notice with a curiosity and with kindness,
Without any judgment,
Whatever it is you are experiencing in this moment.
Beginning by bringing your attention to the top of your head,
Perhaps noticing sensation on your scalp,
Shifting to your forehead,
Your eyes,
Your cheeks,
Bringing your awareness to your mouth and your jaw,
Allowing your face to soften and relax.
And now bringing your attention to your shoulders,
Inviting your shoulders to relax,
And scrolling down your arms,
Your hands,
And your fingers.
And now bringing your attention to your chest,
Perhaps noticing the rise and fall of your chest with your breath,
And shifting your attention to your belly,
Your hips,
Your sit bones,
That spot where your sit bones meet the chair or the cushion.
And bringing your awareness now to your back,
Noticing the length of your spine,
From your tailbone to the base of your neck.
And now bringing your attention to your legs,
Your upper legs,
Your lower legs,
Your feet,
And your toes.
And now bringing your intention to the entirety of your body,
Perhaps noticing how it feels in the room that you're in,
A heaviness,
A lightness,
Coolness,
Warmth,
Simply being with whatever you notice.
And now bringing your attention back to your breath,
Wherever it is you notice your breath,
Whether it's in the expansion and contraction of your belly,
The rise and fall of your chest,
The coolness of the inhale through your nostrils,
And the warmth of the exhale.
Your breath is your focus,
And in a few moments you'll hear the single bell.
We'll continue meditating using your breath as the focus.
And if you'd like to add a silent mantra,
Using a breath count,
Repeating the word one with your inhale,
And two with your exhale.
This is your focus,
Your breath and your breath count,
And when you get charmed by thoughts,
Sounds,
Or sensations,
Simply notice your wandering mind.
And it is in the noticing that you have a choice to return to your focus no matter how many times your mind wanders and you return to your focus.
You're doing it right.
This is your practice,
And in a few moments you'll hear two bells.
This will signal the 15-minute mark,
And we'll continue meditating,
Following your breath,
Using your breath count,
Staying with your practice.
No matter what experience you're having,
You're doing it right,
Following your breath,
Nowhere to go,
Nowhere to be,
Or simply sitting and breathing.
And now you can let go of the breath count,
Continue sitting with your eyes closed,
And in a few moments you'll hear the sound of three bells signaling the end of meditation.
Take your time to slowly come out of meditation.
Namaste.
