Sitting Comfortably

It’s useful to spend the first few seconds of any meditation — however short — fine-tuning your posture and breathing. This kind of deliberate body and breath awareness can have almost magical effects. Within seconds, you’ll probably feel the breath softening and muscles releasing, and this spot-meditation encourages a deepening of this natural process.

Instructions

1. Wherever you are — at your desk, on a tram, lounging on the couch — gently bring your attention to the body.
2. Without changing posture, notice how you are sitting.
   Ask: “Am I more tense than I need to be?”
   You may feel it in the face or shoulders or toes.
   Also notice how you are breathing.
3. Now — slowly and deliberately — adjust your posture.
   Listen to what your body wants.
   Make finer and finer adjustments.
   Go for a sense of balance, openness and comfort.
4. When you feel ‘in your body’, go to your breathing.
   Take three or four deep breaths and sigh.
   Now let the breath find its own rhythm — open, spacious and natural.
5. Watch the process of the body returning to balance.
   Notice the little tensions surface and fade.
6. Finally, resume what you were doing. For bonus points, see if you can remain somewhat aware of your body and breath.