Be a Balloon

Click here to follow along with a guided “Be a Balloon” practice.

1. If possible, find a place where you will not be interrupted.
2. Make an agreement with yourself that, just for a moment or two, this is what you are going to be doing.
3. Get comfortable. You may sit, recline, or lie down.
4. Close your eyes.
5. Bring your attention to your body, uncross legs or arms, avoid hunching, and soften any tension you become aware of (for example, in the neck or face).
6. Now, imagine a balloon, lying flat, uninflated, upon your lap. Pretend that you are the balloon.
7. If you wish, place a hand on your belly, or on your chest over your heart, or both.
8. Breathe in, through the nose if you can (through the mouth otherwise), nice and easy, until you get to the “top” of the in-breath where you can’t go any further (wherever you need to stop is perfectly fine).
9. While inhaling, focus your attention on the tip of the nose (can you feel the air going in?), or the shoulders (can you feel them rising?), or the chest and rib cage (can you feel them expanding?), or the belly (can you feel it puffing out?). If you like, try silently saying the words, “Breathing in…”
10. Experience the balloon, i.e. you, filled up with air.
11. Sustain (”hold”) the breath briefly.
12. Next, breathe out, through the slightly open mouth this time, pushing all the air out of the balloon, squeezing out even a little more air when you think it’s already empty, until you get to the “bottom” where the balloon (you) is once again uninflated.
13. As you did at the top of the breath, hold or “sustain” briefly before beginning again.
14. If your mind wanders away from the breath and begins to think thoughts, bring your focus back to the breath. Try saying something like, “Right now I’m watching my breath.”
15. Repeat at least three or four times, each time for at least 30-60 seconds (longer if you wish).
16. When you’re ready, open your eyes.

♥︎Keep in mind that distraction is natural. Your experience will vary. All you need to do is to bring your attention back to the breath as soon as you notice that it has wandered, as many times as you need to. Don’t worry and don’t hurry. Every practice is a good practice!

♥︎After you practice, ask yourself what differences you notice, if any, in how you felt before and after doing it.

The Inventory

Click here to follow along with a guided “Inventory” practice.

1. Begin The Inventory practice (a kind of body scan) with a brief “Be a Balloon” practice.
2. Next, imagine your body as a house which you are going to explore.
3. Imagine: In your hand, you are holding a flashlight. This flashlight is your attention, and its beam is going to bring into your awareness whatever you see as you look around, just observing, with gentle curiosity, whatever you find there, without any need to change it.
4. Continuing your Balloon breathing, begin your exploration. Point the beam at the top of the inside of your head, and then slowly move down into the rest of your body, first one side and then the other, front and back, arms and hands to the tips of the fingers, all the way down to the ankles and the feet and the tips of the toes.
5. As you take inventory of whatever you find in the light of your flashlight beam, simply notice any sensations you observe. If any tension or discomfort should arise, return your focus to the breath and  then direct the breath into that particular place. Imagine the area expanding, releasing, and softening. It’s natural to need to do this more than once. 
6. Imagine your breath helping to expand constricted places and to soften taut places. 
7. Return your attention to the breath as many times as you need to. 
8. Cultivate a non-judgmental stance toward whatever you find as you take this inventory. 
9. Repeat the process once or twice (more if you wish).
10. Finish with a few Be a Balloon breaths. When you’re ready, open your eyes.

♥︎ Keep in mind that distraction is natural. Your experience will vary. All you need to do is to bring your attention back to the breath as soon as you notice that it has wandered, as many times as you need to. Don’t worry and don’t hurry. Every practice is a good practice!

♥︎ After you practice, ask yourself what differences you notice, if any, in how you felt before and after doing it.

The Beach Blanket

Click here to follow along with a guided “Beach Blanket” practice.

1. As with The Inventory, begin The Beach Blanket practice with a brief “Be a Balloon” practice.
2. Next, imagine a beach blanket spread out upon the sand at a lovely beach. It can be a favorite beach you already know, one you’ve seen in photographs, or one you make up in your own imagination.
3. Continue imagining: it is a beautiful day. The breeze is light, the sky is blue and dotted with white, puffy clouds, and the water is sparkling. Allow yourself to hear the waves rushing in, and then out, over and over again. Perhaps sea gulls are calling. Feel the sand, which is nice and warm but not too hot. Everything is just right and just how you like it.
4. Now, bring your attention again to the beach blanket, spread out upon the sand. Notice how it receives the sun, the breeze, and the sand beneath it, simply present to the elements.
5. Next, observe that the weather appears to be changing. Clouds are starting to roll in, the wind is picking up, and the sky is growing darker.
6. Continue Balloon breathing, returning your attention to the breath when your mind wanders and intentionally releasing any tension you observe arising in your body.
7. Next, notice that it has begun to rain. First lightly, then harder. Now it is raining. The beach blanket, which only moments ago was bathed in warm sunshine, is now being showered with raindrops.
8. Deliberately choose to cultivate, in your mind and in your body, a stance of acceptance of the change in the weather, of the wind and the rain, just as they are right now, just as the beach blanket receives both the sun and the rain equally without resistance.
9. Continue Balloon breathing, returning your attention to the breath when your mind wanders and intentionally releasing any tension you observe arising in your body.
10. Next, allow yourself to “take inventory” of the content of your awareness right now. What thoughts are you thinking? What body sensations are you experiencing?
11. As you continue Balloon breathing, cultivate some willingness to take a non judgmental stance toward whatever you are observing. You are like a scientist in a lab coat, simply observing and noting your observations without commentary, accepting the qualities of the things being observed just as they are right now.
12. Repeat the process once or twice (more if you wish).
13. Finish with a few Be a Balloon breaths. When you’re ready, open your
    eyes.

♥︎ Keep in mind that distraction is natural. Your experience will vary. All you need to do is to bring your attention back to the breath as soon as you notice that it has wandered, as many times as you need to. Don’t worry and don’t hurry. Every practice is a good practice!

♥︎After you practice, ask yourself what differences you notice, if any, in how you felt before and after doing it.