Today we are going to do a meditation around simply connecting to your breath,
To sitting with your breath,
To being with yourself,
To choose to pause.
Every time we choose to pause to consider,
Am I in alignment with where I want to go,
Is a step in the right direction.
Find a comfortable place.
You might want to sit down with your legs crossed in a straight back.
It might feel comfortable to lay fully down on the ground.
Wherever you are,
Find a place where you can completely let go,
Where you can connect to your breath,
Where you can come home to your body.
Before we begin today's meditation,
I want you to set an intention for your practice today.
Why are you here?
What brought you here?
What is your intention?
With your eyes closed,
Start to slow down your breath.
You might feel good to place one hand on your throat and one hand on your belly.
Really connect with the sensation of the breath rising and falling.
Start by placing your focus on the breath.
As you inhale,
You notice that your stomach rises.
As you exhale,
Your belly will contract,
Going in towards your spine.
When we consciously slow down our breath like this,
It allows us to shift into our parasympathetic nervous system where we can access a state of calm,
Where we can return our bodies to a state of homeostasis balance.
As you are breathing,
Notice your thoughts.
What's going through your head right now?
It's important to remember that meditation is not the absence of thoughts.
It's the noticing of your thoughts and the decision to come back to your breath,
To bring your focus back to a singular point.
But take a moment right now to notice what you're thinking about,
The to-do lists that pop into your mind,
The emails,
Tasks,
Memories,
Future events.
You are not your thoughts.
Having thoughts like this is normal.
The mental discomfort of sitting in stillness and silence,
The resistance you feel around it,
All normal.
Continue to pull your focus inwards into your breathing,
Into your heart space.
Breathe into that space and feel the openness or the tightness.
Feel whatever is there.
Keep bringing your attention back to your breath.
Notice the rising,
The falling,
The beginning,
The end,
The giving,
The receiving.
Breathe in through your nose,
Fully filling up your lungs and then out through your mouth,
Really letting it go.
We're going to sit in silence now for one minute.
I will mind the time.
Your job is to sit and breathe.
There's nothing required of you right now.
We are ready.
Taking a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth,
Letting it go.
It will get easier every time you choose to sit,
To stay,
To breathe,
To override the sensation,
To follow the mind as it tries to get you to come out.
Notice how you feel right now.
Do you feel lighter,
More softness,
More expansive?
When you are in tune with your breath,
When you calm your system.
This is how we are able to make true strides in our lives,
To shift energy,
To be more in choice and less reactive.
Now open your eyes and come back to the room and the space that you are in and look around the room as if you are seeing it for the first time.
Stay still,
Keep breathing.
Just notice how good it feels to have stopped,
To have paused,
To have taken a moment for yourself.
Reconnect with your intention that you set at the start of practice and truly thank yourself for showing up today.
My name is Tess Lone and thank you for meditating with me.
