Breath Awareness Meditation

(waves crashing) Hi there. Let's begin to let our breath tether us inward. So, step one, be comfortable. Find the seat where you feel supported. It can help to allow for a deliberate inhale, (inhales) followed by an audible exhale.

(exhales) Let's do that again. Inhale. And exhale. (exhales) Let your natural generosity of heart help find your spine's alignment. And then find the proper placement of your skull, so that your head feels supported by your spine. Nice. Begin to notice that you're breathing.

And as soon as you notice that you're breathing, your breath will change, just like all of us change when somebody starts to pay attention. In fact, everything changes when we start to pay attention. And then, for the purpose of practicing paying attention, begin to become aware of the movement of the breath in your lower belly. If it helps, bring one hand or two to your lower belly. You might let your eyes close, or softly focus in front of you, and just begin to feel how the belly gently expands and opens on the inhale, and how the lower belly softens and retreats on the exhale.

There's no need to artificially force the breath to be bigger. There's no need to strain. Nice. Okay, gently relax this effort. And now, begin to feel how you can breathe more into your lower side ribs.

And while you do not need to use your hands, sometimes it can help. And most of us, it's easiest if we offer a little bit of a hug, kinda crossing the arms underneath, so the fingers find the lower side ribs. And the invitation is to simply be interested in how, as you inhale, the ribs widen, and how, as you exhale, the ribs soften. Eyes could be closed or softly focused. This sometimes tempts the breath to deepen a lot, like she starts to kinda wanna show off a little bit, and prove how big she can make the ribs.

Just let her do her thing. Beautiful. One or two more like this. Just depends on your particular breath space. And then eventually release your hands and just rest in the effect. And now, begin to become more aware of how the upper ribs respond to the breath.

More around the region of the heart, or really more above the heart. And if you'd like, you could even bring one hand up to this upper-chest region, and just feel the natural encouragement of rise on the inhale, and fall on the exhale. Again, eyes might be softly focused or closed. Really start, you're starting to practice tuning your inner eye inward, letting the movement of the breath in the body help. Nice, gently, as you're ready, release the hand, if you've been using the hand as an assistant.

Pause in the effect. And we're gonna tune to one last place, which is to become aware of the breath in the upper-collarbone region, and the lift up and around here. And if it would help, bring your fingertips so lightly, just on those upper collarbones, just to feel this gentle rise. Beautiful, let your hands now rest, either on your legs or in your lap. Let your eyes close or softly focus.

And together, now we'll find three breaths, specifically aiming to be aware of each of these areas. And then we'll rest in the effect. So only as you're ready, on an upcoming inhale, begin to feel the inhale's opening of the lower belly, widening of the lower ribs, expansion of the upper heart, and lift up through the collarbones. And as you exhale, feel the collarbones fall, heart soften, ribs soften, belly ease. Do that two more times on your own.

And when you come to the end of that last one, relax the effort. Relax your deliberate focus on the breath. Let her do what she wants to do. She might go for a big clearing breath, or be barely visible. But just sensing the effect of tuning inward a little bit.

And if your eyes are closed, gently open them. Thank you.