Awareness of breathing.
This meditation is guided by Elisa Riutta,
South Coast Mindfulness.
Welcome to this guided meditation focused on sensations of the breath.
We will especially focus on sensations of the breath on the belly,
But feel free to choose any other point of focus if this area does not work for you.
Let's take a moment to gently arrive,
Finding a comfortable position that allows your body to relax and awaken to this moment.
If it feels okay,
Bringing a gentle lift to your spine,
Inviting the shoulders to drop and relax,
Arriving with the contact through your seat,
A small but deliberate shift in your position to reflect your intention to be present,
Allowing your eyes to close softly or keeping them open with a soft gaze.
Now,
Beginning by bringing your awareness to the physical sensations of the body,
Sensing the contact that the body makes,
The area where your body meets the chair or your feet on the floor,
The back against the chair,
Sensing the weight of the legs,
How the legs are positioned just now,
Perhaps sensing mild pressure on the seat,
Feeling warmth or coolness of the air touching your head and cheeks,
Spending a moment kindly opening and receiving any sensations available here and now,
Whatever you feel,
Whatever you sense,
This is correct and enough.
And now,
With the same gentle curiosity,
Moving and placing your awareness on the region of your belly,
With the flow of breathing,
Experiencing the rising and falling sensations on the abdomen,
Mild stretching as the belly expands with the in-breath,
And the sense of release as the belly softly deflates with the out-breath,
Bringing your attention to the ebb and flow of the sensations made up here on the abdomen,
Just as they form,
Subtly or more substantially,
Perhaps there is a sense of tightening and relaxing taking turns,
Or just a simple notion of the movement up and down on the belly,
Whatever it is like for you,
Just kindly observing and sensing directly where the movement happens,
As best you can,
Allowing your body relax while you remain present for the sensations,
Just watching the breathing,
Moving the belly,
Letting go of judgements or preconceived notions about what this should be like,
Your breath is just as it is,
Perfect for this moment.
Whenever you notice that your mind has wandered from the belly,
Just taking a brief note of where your focus has gone,
It is perfectly normal that our attention,
Sooner or later,
Drifts and does not stay forever in one place,
No matter how much we try.
An integral part of mindfulness practice is to be kind to ourselves in these moments,
So the best you can do is to let go of blame or getting caught up in frustration in these moments,
As much as you can,
And instead remaining awake to notice where your attention is in each moment,
Like waking up to this moment again and again and just checking in,
Where am I now?
Am I still on the breath?
Have I moved somewhere else?
When you realize your attention has drifted away,
You can already congratulate yourself,
This means you are aware again and can bring your attention back.
So whenever you notice your attention is anywhere else but on the belly sensations,
Just taking a short pause,
And in the next moment kindly and firmly escorting your attention back,
Down to the body,
Focus back on your belly,
And picking up physical sensations from the next breath,
And just keeping repeating this as often as it happens,
Without making it a bigger deal or taking it as a sign of anything being wrong,
Letting your body do the breathing for you as much as possible.
This simple,
Continuous movement,
And permitting yourself to take the seat of an observer,
Watching with curiosity and gentle interest,
What is in the space of inhale and what is in the space of exhale,
A place to recenter and cultivate steadiness to come back to,
Following the sensations of in-breath and out-breath through their entire length,
The whole expanse,
To the last bits of release with the out-breath,
Aware of the space between the breaths as well,
Whether there is stillness between movement,
Can you notice this?
Allowing the sensations of breath on the belly to be as they are,
Letting them come and letting them go,
Whenever you notice you have drifted away,
Approaching with patience,
Acknowledging that these shifts of attention are part of your meditation practice,
Not something to not have,
Responding with gentle recognition,
Thinking,
Planning,
Worrying,
In whichever form the thoughts come to you,
That is correct,
Comments,
Images,
Repeating patterns,
Noting this briefly,
They are natural mind's events,
Just as the breath that moves your body,
You are still okay,
You are still here,
And all the aspects of this moment are what they are.
Now,
Allowing the sensations of the breath on your belly to be where they are and beginning to expand your awareness wider so that you become aware of your whole body and everything and anything that arises in it,
Bringing this same warm and friendly interest to each moment and what is most available for you on the body level,
Most present now,
Perhaps it's still the breath that you can sense as most prominent experience,
Or some other sensation in the body arising now to meet you,
If there is an emotion you recognize,
Meeting it with care and kindness,
If a sound takes your attention,
Just listening,
If a thought appears,
Acknowledging its presence,
Watching it without getting entangled with it,
Letting each experience of the moment arise without interference,
Moving attention gently around your body,
Or just sitting and receiving how the moment unfolds,
Opening to the experience in each moment in its fullness and aliveness,
Allowing the flow of the breath through the body to be your anchor to steady and connect,
Opening your awareness for the moment to come together and pass.
Whenever you are ready,
In your own time,
You can slowly open your eyes or lift your gaze,
Bringing this sense of presence to your first moments when you move your body and the next activity that you do,
Slowing down to the actual speed of life,
Frame by frame.
Thank you for sharing these moments of mindfulness with me.
May you go well.
