Come into a comfortable seated position.
Aligning the crown of your head directly above the base of your spine.
Relax your body and softly close your eyes.
Then taking one hand,
Place it over your belly.
On the other hand,
Placing it over your chest as you begin to observe your breath.
Notice how it feels to breathe.
Observing what moves when you breathe.
Noticing the difference in movements beneath the hand that is on top of your belly and the hand that is on top of your chest.
Noticing where your breath goes when you breathe.
Noticing if you're a chest breather or if you're a belly breather.
Noticing this without judgement,
Without resisting,
And without attaching to whatever comes up.
Noticing if your breath is fast and shallow or if it feels perhaps slower and deeper.
Notice if your breath is smooth and consistent or perhaps it feels choppy and erratic.
Again,
No judgement,
No stories.
Just simply observe the nuance of your breath.
Notice if there are any involuntary pauses in your breath.
You might notice these either during the inhale or during the exhale or perhaps even at the end of either or both of the breaths.
Just paying close attention to your breath as you allow it to simply come and go by itself.
Just simply watching and observing the breath.
Becoming the witness to your breath.
There's no need to breathe in any particular way.
Just allow for your natural breath to flow easily in and out of your body.
This is the practice of pure awareness applied to breathing.
You are not thinking,
Not judging,
Not comparing,
Or not trying to figure anything out.
You're just remaining in a soft,
Open state of alertness and presence.
Depressing your attention on the ebb and the flow of your breath.
Like the place where the sea and the beach meet.
Every time.
Just observing your inhale and observing your exhale.
And sensing that you are breathing.
Notice where those sensations and feelings of your breath occur in your body.
Where does the breath go when it flows into you?
What does the breath touch?
Just simply allowing the breath to come and go by itself in exactly the way it wants.
With no resistance.
No doing.
Just the simple act of being and allowing.
Remember this connection you have to your mind,
To your body,
To your soul.
This connection will always be here for you to come back to as you experience your life.
Allow it in by giving yourself moments like this.
Gently just releasing your hands from your chest and your belly.
Allow them to rest back on your thighs.
And just remain in this alert and awareness of your breath for a few more moments.
And then when you are ready,
Just very softly,
Very slowly beginning to open your eyes and maintaining the sense of softness and groundness.
As you carry on through the rest of your day.
Namaste.
