Hello and a warm welcome to this breath awareness meditation.
Come to lie down on your back with your eyes closed and start to relax your face and your body.
You can keep your legs outstretched or bend your knees and bring the soles of your feet together if that's more comfortable.
Let's begin by observing the natural inhalation and exhalation of your breath without changing anything.
If you find yourself already distracted by the activity in your mind,
It's natural.
Try not to engage with the thoughts,
Just notice them and then let them go as best you can,
Bringing your attention back to your breath.
Place both hands gently on the belly now.
Intentionally inhale and exhale deeply through the nose.
On each inhale,
Fill the belly up with your breath.
On each exhale,
Exhale all the air out from the belly through your nose.
Draw your navel back towards your spine to make sure that the belly is empty of air.
Repeat this deep belly breathing for about five breaths,
Counting down from five.
The goal is not to get to zero,
The goal is to be present with each breath.
As you breathe,
As you count,
Let go of everything that's happened to you today or this week so far,
Good or bad.
Let it go with each exhale.
Bring your hands up to the lower part of your rib cage and rest them there.
On the next inhale,
Fill the belly up with air.
Then when the belly is full,
Draw in a little more breath and let that air expand into the rib cage,
Causing the ribs to widen apart.
On the exhale,
Let the air go first from the rib cage,
Letting the ribs slide closer together and then from the belly,
Drawing the navel back towards the spine.
Repeat this deep breathing into the belly and rib cage for about five breaths,
Counting down from five.
The goal is not to reach zero,
The goal is to be present with each breath.
As you breathe,
Let go of any expectation or worries about your day.
Tomorrow,
The weekend,
We only ever have the moment we are in.
Give yourself permission to not project your mind forward in time,
To not time travel.
With each breath,
Let the future expectations go.
Exhale them out.
On the next inhale,
Fill the belly and rib cage with air.
Then sip in just a little bit more air and let it fill the upper chest,
All the way up to the collarbone,
Causing the area around the heart space to expand and rise.
On the exhale,
Let the breath go first from the upper chest,
Allowing the heart centre to sink back down,
Then from the rib cage,
Letting the ribs soften and finally letting the air go from the belly,
Drawing the navel back towards the spine.
Continuing to breathe at your own pace.
Eventually,
Coming to let the three parts of the breath happen smoothly,
Without any pause.
Three-part breath,
Belly,
Ribs,
Chest.
Three-part breath,
Exhaling,
Chest,
Ribs,
Belly.
Counting each breath down from five.
The goal is not to get to zero,
The goal is to be present with each breath.
If you find yourself distracted by activity in your mind,
Try not to engage with those thoughts.
Just notice them and then let them go as best you can,
Bringing your attention back to the breath.
If the activity of the mind causes you to lose count,
Start again at five.
If we only ever have the moment we are in,
Give yourself permission to be in it.
The three parts of the breath happen smoothly.
Soften the jaw,
The shoulders,
The belly,
Or depth,
If it wants to.
Just let it be.
Gently bringing some movement into your fingers and toes,
Gently drawing your head from side to side.
Take any stretches that you feel like here,
And nice and slowly blinking,
Open the eyes.
Just take a moment to pause and notice how you feel as you complete your session.
Thank yourself for taking these 10 minutes,
And I thank you so much for allowing me to hold space for you today.
I'll see you at the next one.
Namaste.
