Welcome to your daily 15 minutes meditation guided session! Start your day off feeling refreshed and energized by taking a few moments to relax, focus on your breath, and be mindful. This quick but powerful practice will help you to release any negativity or stress that has been lingering in your mind and clear your mental space for the day ahead.
Focusing on your breath, it helps to bring awareness back into the body, connecting with the present moment. This intentional practice of concentration, it can lead to profound insights into how our mind works. The goal of this mindfulness exercise is to help us connect with our inner voice and become aware of how we are feeling in the moment without judging ourselves. We will be utilizing different techniques such as deep breathing exercises and visualization techniques so that you can center yourself and gain clarity from within.
This short yet impactful practice is ideal for those with limited time but still want to reap the benefits of meditation for their well-being. So now let’s begin by settling down comfortably in a quiet place free from distractions where you feel safe & relaxed enough to put yourself first for this brief moment of self-care. Take a few deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth…
15 minutes meditation guided – Morning meditation and breath work
Good morning everyone. Welcome to your meditation.
So just find a comfortable seat this morning. Or this evening, depending on where you find yourself in the world. Sitting up nice and tall on top of the sitting bones.
So stacking the spine on top of the sitting bones. Head and shoulders just gently resting on top of the spine. And then you can bring your hands to your knees. Just gently resting them there. Start to close the eyes really slowly, drifting them close. Allow the eyelids to grow heavier and heavier. As you do so, start drawing your attention to your breath.
Becoming aware of every inhalation and every exhalation. As you observe the breath. Just simply noticing it, noticing where it’s at. And don’t actively try and change it just yet.
Checking in to see where the breath sits in the body. Perhaps it’s higher up in the chest. Maybe it’s slightly lower towards the belly. Notice the pace of the breath. The rhythm of the breath. Observing the time between every inhale and every exhale.
Now we’re going to start to change this rhythm. Start to deepen the breath. So, sealing off the lips, breathing in through the nose, we count the breath. One. Two. Three. Four. We hold 2 3 4. Exhale 2 3 4. Hold 2 3 4. So this is called a box breathing breath. We continue these counts. We inhale 2 3 4. Hold 2, 3, 4. Exhale 2, 3, 4. Hold 2 3 4. Inhale. Hold at the top. Exhale. Hold at the bottom.
Continuing like this with your own breath, with your own counts. So if you find that your breath is catching or feels quite restricted with these counts. Just dropping the counts to maybe a 2 or a 3. It shouldn’t ever feel strained or caged in, we want the breath to be flowing freely through the body. And what’s important here is just to keep the inhale, the breath retention and the exhale at the same ratio with the same counts that you have chosen.
We’re going to repeat this for four more rounds. In your own time. With your own breath. Then once you have completed your last round of box breathing.
You can gently let that breath control go. Just fall back into your natural rhythmic. And then I’d like you to once again observe and notice. Just notice where the breath is at. Right now. Maybe you noticed there is a little bit more time between your inhale and exhale. Maybe you notice the breathing rate has slowed down. Maybe you’ve noticed that the breath sits a little bit lower in the body towards the lower belly.
Moving into our next breathing exercise. The Nadi Shodhana breathing exercise or Alternate Nostril Breathing. So keeping the eyes closed, taking the right hand thumb and placing it towards the right nostril. Right hand ring finger places towards the left nostril. And the index finger and the middle finger just changed your rests at your third eye centre on your forehead, in between the eyebrows.
So we’ll stop by breathing in through both nostrils. Deep breath in then exhale out the mouth. Sealing off the lips. Closing the left nostril or the right ring finger. We inhale through the right nostril. Closing right nostril, exhale left. So alternating the breath through the two nostrils. Inhale left. Close left, exhale, right. Inhale, right. Closing right, exhale left. Inhale left. Exhale, right.
Continuing like that in your own time. And then noticing, maybe if there’s any blockages on either side. Trying to breathe through that. It’s really nice, deep intentional breath. Completing 3 more rounds on each side. And there’s no rush. To try and keep this breath nice and slow. Beautiful, once you’ve completed that.
You can just gently take the hand away from the face. Once again, fall back into your natural rhythmic breath and observe how it has changed.
Then we take this observation, this awareness and we draw it towards our mind. Our mental bodies.
And then we set our intention for our day ahead. If you find yourself in the evening. Maybe taking a moment to reflect on the day that has already been. So, choosing a personal word, a phrase, a statement. Something that really resonates with you on this day. And then repeat this intention to yourself maybe once or twice. And then releasing it out into the world. Releasing the grip that you have on this intention. Detaching yourself from it. Like we try to practice with most of our thoughts.
Again, take on the role of the observer and just observe the intention in your mind’s eye. Almost as if it’s grains of sand that you are holding in the palm of your hands and they just simply slipping through your fingers.
Allowing this intention to go out into the world. And letting it guide us and align with us as it should.
Taking your last few moments here really letting all that settle in the body. Taking a moment just to thank yourself for showing up. For taking some time to create some stillness in your morning or in your day. Some time to create some space in the mind, in the breath, and in the body. And then gratitude and appreciation from me.
Thank you for joining me today through your meditation. I hope you have a beautiful and a wonderful day or evening further.
Download a pdf version of this meditation below!
There are many different types of mindfulness meditation and mindful breathing exercises that we can incorporate into our daily life. Meditation practice has a huge impact on our physical health, decreasing the effects of stress and therefore increasing our quality of life. The focused attention given to the breath has so many potential benefits and positive effects on our minds and bodies.
