We're going to be settling into a bit of breath awareness in this meditation.
Start by coming into a comfortable position,
Whatever that might mean for you today.
Some place that you can give permission to the body to rest.
Some place that you can let gravity hold your weight.
Try to let the sand of the day begin to settle.
Invite a little bit more space between your thoughts and your actions.
Inviting more and more space for your thoughts to drift away from your immediate attention.
So you can come into the body.
I'd like you to feel your breath.
That might mean inviting a palm to your belly or your chest to just watch the breath travel.
Feel your breath come in.
Feel the release of stale air,
Inviting it to patiently exit.
Sort of fall into that rhythm of your own breathing,
Cadence of the breath.
Be aware of the temperature of the air on your skin,
The weight of your clothes.
Maybe you can tune into the aura or energy of anything that might be around you.
Acknowledge the honor that you have to reside in this vessel,
This opportunity that you've been given to be in this container,
Your body.
It's yours to tend to.
Make a point of respecting and offering what it needs today.
Again,
Come back into the movement of the breath,
The air entering,
Filling the body,
Absorbing.
And then the release of what's not needed,
The release of physical effort becoming empty again.
Watch that transition,
The breath inhaling and filling,
Full of air,
Full of breath.
And then it rolls over into emptying,
Releasing,
Letting go.
The next time that you inhale,
Imagine that the breath is traveling from your seat up into your skull.
So in your mind's eye,
Witness your breath filling into the base of your spine and traveling up into your head.
When you breathe out,
It empties from your head and trickles all the way down your spine,
Ending at your seat.
A complete inhale from your tailbone up to your crown and a complete exhale from your crown down to your tailbone.
Breathe the length of your spine traveling up and back down again.
The next time that you inhale,
Imagine filling from the center of your chest and outward to the edges of your ribs when you breathe in.
When you breathe out,
It empties from the outer edges of your ribs and contains right back into the center of your chest,
Letting the breath travel side to side,
Filling the body laterally.
Inhaling from the center of the chest and out to the ribs.
Exhaling,
Feeling the lungs empty,
Contract back to center,
Resting again at the heart.
From center and outward,
Outward back to center.
On your next inhale,
Imagine breathing from the space that touches the ground forward into the front of your chest.
Breathing from the back body to the front body and then from the front body to the back body.
Feel the rise of the chest,
Ribs draw forward and then the ribs compress back,
Subtle release of the navel to the spine.
Breathing forward and exhaling backward.
Exhaling to lift the chest,
Exhaling to let it soften closer to the earth.
Then finally on your next inhale,
See if you can put that all together.
Exhaling from the base of the spine to the top of the head,
From the center of the chest out into the edges of the ribs,
From the back body to the front body.
And exhaling down the spine,
Back to center,
Back to the earth.
So your breath becomes full and vibrant,
Filling up in all directions and exhaling back into your container,
Back into this vessel that you're living in.
A few more rounds of full,
Vibrant breath,
Inhaling and exhaling.
One more round of full,
Vibrant breath.
Begin to transition your awareness,
Drawing with you all the peace and all the energy and understanding that you've cultivated,
The presence you've experienced.
Bring your attention back to the space that you're in,
Sensing whatever is above you,
Whether it's a ceiling or the sky.
Notice what surrounds you,
Whether it be walls or trees or open space.
Recognize the surface below you,
The contact points between your body and the surface that supports you.
Have a direct experience with that support.
Bring your attention back to your breathing.
Each time you breathe,
Your energy begins steady return,
Your mind finding a bit of clarity.
Feeling it slowly wake up.
When you're ready,
Might explore the space between the fingers,
Maybe the air between the toes.
Head might sway from side to side.
And then you gather up whatever it is that your body is requesting at this time,
Whether it's asking to take a big stretch or to curl in close.
Perhaps you rest the body over onto the side that's most inviting,
Landing in the fetal position,
Just letting all your weight travel to one side.
An opportunity to recognize and honor the ground that supports you,
That holds you up each and every day.
Perhaps an opportunity to honor the body that you're living in,
Honor the mind that travels with you.
When you're ready,
Gather yourself and come into a comfortable position once again.
You might choose to be seated or lying down.
Take a full deep breath in,
In all directions you fill the cavity of your body.
And then your biggest release of the breath out.
Take a gentle breath in,
And then a patient breath out.
One last breath together,
In and out.
If it serves you,
You can gather your hands together,
In the mudra of Anjali,
Hands in front of the heart,
Or perhaps a gesture of the hands that feels comforting to you,
Whatever shape that might look like today.
Give yourself a greeting to come back into the day from this current space.
Give yourself a moment of gratitude for taking the time to travel into this space.
Recognize the light and the divine that you have.
I honor your presence,
Your practice,
And I honor your forward motion into health.
Namaste Yogis.
