Morning Breathing with Gratitude Meditation.
This meditation guides you to become aware of the breath while cultivating positive feelings of love,
Peace and gratitude.
Place your feet flat on the floor.
Make sure your backside is well into the chair.
Open your knees so they're slightly apart so that your belly can relax.
Place your hands on your thighs or in your lap.
Now begin to rock your body gently from side to side,
Allowing the movement to become smaller and smaller until it stops of its own accord.
Then gently rock your head and neck from side to side,
Again allowing the movement to become smaller and smaller,
Coming to the rest at the midway point between your shoulders.
Tuck your chin in slightly to open up the back of your neck.
Relax your eyes by looking at your head.
Relax your eyes by looking down slightly,
Even if your eyes are closed.
Gently relax your mouth and jaw and let your tongue rest loosely in the bottom of your mouth with the tip resting behind the bottom teeth.
Check that your shoulders are loose,
Your stomach is loose,
And feel the contact of your feet with the floor.
Let them sink into the floor.
Feel the contact of your thighs on the chair.
Let them sink into the chair.
Feel the contact of your back side with the chair.
Feel your back on the backrest and let yourself have the feeling of slightly falling back into the chair.
Feel the contact of your arms and hands on your thighs or in your lap.
Breathing in,
Breathing out with a sigh.
Now return to your normal breathing.
Open your mind out to all the sounds around you,
Listening to sound just as sound.
Become aware of all the sounds in the room,
In the rest of the building,
And all the sounds outside of the building.
Listen out as far as you can.
Listen out as far as you can.
Listen out as far as you can.
Listen in all directions,
In front of you,
Behind you,
To the left,
To the right,
Above and below you.
Allow your awareness to rest in the sensation of sound.
Let yourself be held by the sensation of sound.
You may even have a sense of floating in a sea of sound or resting in a huge sphere of sound.
Just listening to sound as sound.
Now bring your attention to your breathing.
You may like to notice or feel the breath at your nose or mouth,
Or you may find it easier to watch the breath at your chest or belly.
If you're watching your breath at your nose or mouth,
You might notice it's slightly cooler on the in-breath and slightly warmer on the out-breath.
Or you may feel the gentle rise and fall of your chest as you breathe in and out,
Or feel the movement of your belly with each breath.
It doesn't matter where you pick up the breath,
Just stay with the physical sensation of breathing.
Follow your natural breathing,
Just feeling,
Watching,
Or even listening to your breath.
If you find your mind has wandered off into thoughts,
Just notice them and gently come back to the physical sensation of breathing.
Now bring your attention to the area around your heart.
Feel your breath as though you're breathing in and out through your heart's center.
Feeling or watching your breath move in and out through the heart.
Some people even become aware of the sensation of their heart beating.
You may like to follow your breath by repeating silently to yourself,
Love in as you breathe in,
And peace out as you breathe out.
Love in,
Peace out.
When you notice thoughts or background sensations in your body,
Just become aware of them and gently return to breathing through the heart center.
Now with your attention resting gently at your heart,
Bring to mind someone or something that you feel grateful for.
Notice how gratitude feels in the center of your heart.
You may feel warmth radiating or see a small bright light or even a flower in your heart center.
With each breath,
Feel the sensation of gratitude expanding further and further outwards.
You might feel warmth radiating or if you're imagining a light,
It may grow bigger and brighter or the flowers petals may open up with each inhalation.
Rest here,
Cultivating the feeling of gratitude with each breath.
When you're ready,
Let go of the feeling of gratitude and return to the sensation of breathing through the heart center.
And when you're ready,
Let go of the feeling of watching the breath.
Become aware again of the sounds around you,
The sensations of sitting in the chair,
The quality of light behind your eyelids.
And when you're ready,
Gently open your eyes to come out of the meditation.
