Welcome to First This, a short mindfulness practice and message for any time.

I'm Catherine Nikolai, and I'm glad you're here.

Let's settle our bodies and then we'll work on our minds.

Please get as comfortable as you can.

If you're sitting, you want to find kind of natural upright position so you can breathe easily. And if you're laying down, you might want to

cushion under your knees. Pause me if you need to. Once you're settled, let's take a deep breath in through the nose.

Let it out through your mouth.

Again, inhale fully.

Let it out with sound.

Good. Good.

Now lips together.

Let your breath move at its own pace through your nose.

Since your breath is constant, it makes for a great place to focus the mind.

Notice as breath moves in, and there might be a tiny pause between inhale and exhale,

and then notice it rolling out.

Tiny pause again, and the cycle repeats.

If your mind wanders off, try asking yourself where in that cycle you are.

Just be curious.

Am I exhaling? Am I in the micro pause? We just want to get back

to the present by the shortest route and being curious helps. Thank you. Thank you. I'm thinking today about making space inside myself.

Sometimes our minds and hearts can become cluttered up with stuff that we don't know what to do with.

Like a broken appliance that overwhelms us and we just close the door and try not to go in

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