So welcome to this morning's meditation.
We're going to sit comfortably,
So once again either being in your chair or being onto your mat,
Just making sure that you feel nice and comfortable.
And let your sit bones ground down.
If we're onto a chair,
Grounding our feet onto the earth,
Or putting a block or a stall underneath them so that they feel like they are definitely in contact with something,
Not just dangling.
I'd like you to allow for your spine to feel nice and tall.
So when we are on a chair,
Try not to sit back into the chair if you can help it.
Try and keep yourself supported.
And then just let shoulders soften.
So we're going to take our hand gesture,
Whatever feels good for you.
You can rest the hands down onto the legs,
Making our chin mudra,
Joining thumb and first finger with palms either up or down,
Or just allowing for our right hand to rest into our left and joining our thumbs.
So whatever feels good for you,
Just take a moment to set yourself up,
Making sure there's a little bit of airflow between the body and the arms,
So we're not clamping the arms in.
That length through the spine.
And maybe tuck the chin ever so slightly backwards.
We're not going to allow the head to bow,
So we're still going to keep upright.
And then whenever you're ready,
Just allowing your eyes to either close or just lowering the gaze down to just in front of you.
So we're going to come to our breath,
Just allowing for the inhale and the exhale to start being your focus.
So we're going to keep our breath natural.
And we're just going to notice where we're breathing.
Noticing if we're breathing just into the chest area.
And if we are,
See if you can expand that breath so that the belly moves a little too.
A nice full,
Deep breath,
But keeping the breath comfortable.
We don't want to struggle for breath.
We don't want to force the breath.
Just come into the inhale and the exhale.
Just allowing for that soft breath to let you to start to settle.
So choosing where we want to focus this morning.
Either onto the movement of the breath at the front and sides of the body,
Or maybe to the nostrils.
And just allow yourself to take your focus to that place and start to become aware of the breath.
Just allowing your inhale and your exhale to be full but comfortable once more.
And just allowing for the sensation of the breath to have your full attention.
So if there are any sounds around that are trying to grab your attention,
Just see if you can remove your attention from those sounds and take it back to that internal breath.
So as we bring our focus to the inhale and the exhale,
Just see if you can allow for anything else that's going on in the mind to just have the volume turn down.
It's normal to have some residual chatter,
But just not allowing that chatter to gain your attention.
Just knowing it's there,
But we don't have to attend to it right now.
For the next few moments we are going to just focus on our breath.
So stay in with that focus.
Really natural focus on either the movement or the sensation of the breath at the nostrils.
I'm going to offer you an option here.
If you wish to use what we call a mantra,
A saying,
To help you in your meditation,
I'm going to suggest on the inhale you silently,
Mentally say to yourself,
Just,
And on the exhale,
Be.
Just be.
So stay in with that breath,
That focus on the breath.
And maybe allowing yourself to hear that mantra internally.
Letting everything else just soften,
Just turn itself down.
Taking your full awareness to the breath and if you choose to,
Your mantra.
So if any distractions come to mind,
Just allow them to be noted.
Know that we can deal with them later on and then bring that focus back to the breath.
And maybe also our just be.
Stay in with the inhale and the exhale.
Checking where our focus is.
Keep it straight away,
Just reigning it back.
Stay in with that breath.
Just allowing yourself this time to invest in just being.
Focus on breath.
Letting everything else be quiet.
On that chime,
Keeping the eyes closed,
But just allow your focus on the breath to just soften,
Letting go of the mantra.
With the second chime,
Become aware of the sensation of the earth below you.
Seat on the chair,
Feet on the earth,
Clothes on your skin,
Temperature of the air around you.
Becoming aware of any sounds near and far.
Allow your breath to deepen.
And then just gently allowing the head to bow.
If the hands are cold,
Give them a rub together to create some heat.
And then gently allow the hands to cup the eyes.
Take a nice deep breath as if you're breathing in fresh air,
Maybe in the mountains.
And then when you're ready,
Keeping the eyes covered,
Raising your head,
Opening your eyes and letting the fingertips divide,
Let that light just filter in nice and slowly.
So we've completed our meditation practice for this morning.
