Welcome to Meditation 1,
Following the breath.
To begin with,
Sit with a relaxed but alert posture,
Keeping your spine erect if possible.
You can either sit on the floor or in a chair,
Either is fine.
And when you're comfortable,
Take a moment to check in with yourself,
See how your mind,
See how your body are both feeling.
And then just taking three deep in-breaths through the nose and out through the mouth.
In and out.
In and out.
In and then just gently closing your eyes on the out-breath.
Take a moment to feel the weight of your body,
The weight of your legs,
Your arms,
Your torso and your head.
Feeling gravity gently pulling you down towards the ground.
And take a moment to notice any sounds that might be present.
Nothing to do here really,
Just allowing the sounds to arise all by themselves.
And then when you feel comfortable,
Start to gently notice the sensations related to breathing.
It doesn't really matter where you choose to focus the breath.
Could be the nostrils,
Chest,
The stomach,
Wherever it may be is fine.
Just follow where the breath is most strong and easy to follow for you.
Seeing if you can notice the breath as clearly and as strongly as you possibly can.
It's important not to get.
.
.
Frustrated or to get upset if you have forgotten that you're meditating and the mind has started to wander.
This is completely natural and completely normal.
All you need to do is just smilingly,
Gently return your attention back to the sensations of breathing,
The rising and the falling of the belly or the chest or the sensations of air coming in and out of your nostrils.
It's important for you not to try to force the breath in any way.
Try and stay as relaxed and passive as you possibly can.
You'll actually notice that the breath happens all by itself.
You don't need to do anything.
Your job is just to sit back and watch the breath happening all by itself.
It's likely at this stage that the mind has wandered again.
Again,
This is completely natural and completely normal.
Try not to get cross or upset with yourself.
If anything,
Just gently putting a smile on your lips and a smile in your mind and just happily returning your attention back to the sensations of breathing.
Sometimes,
If you're finding it hard to follow the breath,
What you can do is you can put a hand on your belly or a hand on your chest and this might make you feel the breath more strongly.
Now,
Just relax.
Give up focusing your attention on the breath and just allow your mind to be free to do whatever it wants and then start to gently come back to the room by noticing any sounds,
Any smells or any sensations that might be present in the body right now.
Just before you open your eyes,
Take a moment to check in with yourself.
See how your mind and body feel.
Do they feel the same as they did at the beginning of the session or different?
Either way,
It's fine.
Just notice how you're doing.
Then when you're ready,
Just gently opening your eyes.
Try not to rush away immediately.
Just stretch out your body,
Get comfortable and congratulate yourself for meditating today.
