Simple Breath Awareness 2

(waves lapping) Hi there. Welcome back. We'll continue our journey inward, letting the breath be our guide towards areas that are less obvious. So step one, get yourself comfortable. Snuggle in. Allow yourself to feel grounded, generous, and expansive. And then begin to let your attention come towards your left lung, and let the breath help you.

And from here, you might let your eyes close or let them softly focus gently on a spot in front of you. But see if you can really bring your inner focus, your inner eye, to the left lung, letting the breath help make you aware of this region. It's quite easy to be focused in the center front of the lung 'cause this is the area of the body we're most familiar with, so be slightly more attentive to trying to allow your attention to be at the back of the lung, the bottom of the lung. Let yourself be interested. Nice, gently relax this tethering, relax this effort, and just resting in the effect of drawing your attention inward, mm-hmm.

And then only as you feel ready, and it doesn't feel too abrupt, begin to move your attention over to your right lung. Similar instruction, letting the breath tether your attention inward. As we've been discussing, be aware of the temptation of force. Just allow this to be a gentle meeting. More curious about the areas that are less obvious, like the back of the lung, the bottom-right corner of the lung.

Mm-hmm. And for the last few moments here, is it obvious, is it available to you that the right lung is perhaps bigger than the left? Because whereas the right lung for most of us is about three lobes, the left lung for most of us is only two because she's sacrificed one of her lobes for the heart. And so gently relax some of the attention on the right lung. And as you're ready, moving your awareness back to the left lung, and as you come to the left lung, can you start to be aware of the location of your physical heart?

To become aware of the physical heart requires a quality of spacious curiosity, 'cause while the heart sits center, she leans left and there's this intimate snuggling, tender holding of the left lung around the heart. Can you let your attention be interested in this moment of relationship that sits right here in the center of you? Again, your eyes are either softly focused or they're closed, whichever allows you to be more in tune with you. And the primary ask in this meditation, as you're aware of the intimate relationship between the heart and the left lung, can you allow yourself to be curious and amazed about the relationship between these two? Because it is the heart that allows the oxygenated blood to move through your whole system, through her infinite web of branches, the arteries.

And then it is the heart that draws back that deoxygenated blood and moves it to the lungs where the lungs can offer that fresh oxygen in exchange for the CO2 so the heart can move it around again. This miracle is happening without any direct assistance from what we perceive as us. And so for these next just 2 1/2 minutes, can you allow your attention to be curious, grateful, and amazed? For this last half a minute, it can sometimes be a little appropriate to just gently thank your heart, thank your lungs. And the good old-fashioned mantra of thank you is quite effective.

If your eyes have been closed, gently let them open. Thank you.