Mindfulness Of Breathing

Welcome,

My name is Riju Siddha and I am from the Directionless Path.

I will be leading you today on this Mindfulness of Breathing practice.

This is a brief introduction practice that can be repeated as many times as you wish and you can come back to this recording.

Firstly,

Choose a quiet space that is comfortable and you can sit or lie down hopefully without any distractions.

You may use a cushion or a chair if you need to.

Just make sure you sit in a comfortable yet upright position if you're on a chair or your knees are supported if you're lying down and your hands are resting on your lap.

Start by closing your eyes and bringing your awareness into the body away from your day,

The outside world and taking this space,

Making an intention to take this space for you away from any concerns,

Plans or worries of the day that have been or are up ahead.

Begin to bring your attention to your breath,

Observe the natural rhythm of your breathing and if you can try not to control it,

Just let it do what it does naturally by coming in and out of the body.

Notice the breath coming in through the nostrils,

Down the throat and you may feel it in the belly or the chest,

Depends on where you breathe more and what we're looking for here is to pay attention to the physical sensations associated with the breathing.

Noticing the rise and fall,

The expansion and contraction of the chest and the abdomen and the point where the breath tickles the nostrils entering and leaving the body.

So now we are set up and aware of the breath,

I'm going to introduce a count,

So quietly to yourself as you breathe in,

You breathe out and just gently to yourself count one on the end of the out-breath,

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Count two,

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Count three and so on.

If you get to ten then start again at one.

What you will probably find is that at some point the mind will wander off to planning,

Concerns you have for the day,

Random thoughts,

This is perfectly natural and absolutely fine and is part of the practice.

When we notice that the mind has wandered,

This is a positive thing,

It is a moment of awareness and we just notice that the mind has wandered,

We come back to the body,

Back to the sensations of the breathing and start again at one.

The counting is purely there to help you anchor your awareness,

There is no prize,

No secret teaching in getting to ten.

So we are breathing in,

Breathing out,

Counting one,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Counting two,

When the mind wanders we just bring it back and start again and for the next few minutes this will be all we will be doing,

Noticing the sensations of the in and out breath and applying the count at the end of the breath.

Always bringing the mind back to the breath if it wanders,

We are not interested in the content of the thoughts that have distracted us and there should be no judgment or attachment to them.

Just like a cloud wanders past the blue sky,

We just let it go and come back to the breathing and whilst we are doing this exercise also try and get a sense of enjoyment out of it,

This should be relaxed and enjoyable,

Sensations of the breath are often pleasurable and calming.

Okay so that is the first stage of what we are going to do today.

In the next stage of this mindfulness of breathing meditation all we need to do now is simply place the count at the beginning of the breath.

So now we count one,

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Count two,

Breathe in,

Breathe out.

So all we have done is placed the count to the beginning of the breath and maybe just notice without getting too distracted,

Is notice any difference in the quality of your awareness or anything else you notice physically,

Emotionally,

Just by making that simple change to the beginning of the breath.

Count one,

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Two,

Breathe in,

Breathe out.

Trying to be fully present in each moment with the breath and immersing yourself in the experience of breathing.

We will just continue this for a few moments,

Counting gently to yourself,

Staying with the breath and if your mind is constantly wandering just be patient with yourself,

This is a practice,

It will take easier as you practice it more but this is the nature of the mind,

It will wander but each time you bring it back you are strengthening your mindfulness,

Strengthening your ability to stay with the breath and concentrate.

Okay so we'll move on to the next stage,

This is three of four,

Now what I would invite you to do is to continue watching the breath,

Being aware of the sensations of the breathing coming in and out of the body and now just drop the count,

So it's a little bit like we're taking the training wheels off of the bicycle,

So just without the count,

Just using the breath as the anchor of your awareness,

Watching the breath come in and out,

Again we don't need to control the breath,

It does it on itself,

Just enjoy the process of being relaxed,

Having nothing else to do but sit or lie here with the breath,

Your awareness should be relaxed,

So just take notice of whether we're furrowing the brow,

We're trying to achieve something by over putting too much effort or over concentrating,

Just let the awareness be as little as it needs to to be connected with the breath,

Anything more is not needed,

If you are feeling sleepy or find you are nodding off,

You can just bring the awareness a little bit higher in the body,

Maybe up to the chest,

Being aware of the whole body but the point of the awareness is slightly higher,

So bringing the energy slightly higher up in the body and again do not berate yourself if you fall asleep,

It may be that this is just a space you need as well,

So bringing as much as yourself as you can to the breath,

Bringing the breath in and out and staying with that breath and maybe start to notice the space between in-breath and the out-breath and the out-breath and the in-breath,

Noticing space as well as activity,

Okay so hopefully now we're a little bit more concentrated,

A little bit more settled with the breath but if we're still distracted that's fine we still proceed,

On to the last stage,

Here we're still watching the breath and we're still aware of the whole of the breath but we narrow or concentrate the focus on the point where you first feel the breath enter and leave the body,

So that might be the tip of the nostrils,

Inside the nostrils,

The top lip and just rest your awareness on that point a little bit like a gatekeeper,

The awareness is watching the breath come in and go out,

In and out,

So again we're not creasing our brow,

It's not an exam,

We're just gently moving the center of the awareness to the point where the breath enters and leaves the body,

Nice and relaxed,

Noticing the sensations in that spot,

Maybe noticing is the place where you feel the sensation,

Is it one sensation or is it many,

Does it move around and particularly here you might notice a slight difference in temperature,

Slight cooling on the in-breath,

Warming on the out-breath and again just rest your awareness here and again if the mind wanders just gently notice that moment of awareness that you've been distracted and come back to the breath and to the point that you were concentrating on,

One of the things you may notice is your awareness of the sensations starts to narrow,

The point might get smaller or you might get even a sense of more expansiveness,

This is a positive sign that the conceptual mind is slowing down and you're entering into a space of undistracted awareness.

Okay so we're now going to bring this meditation slowly to an end,

So to come out of the meditation just start by becoming aware of the whole process of the breath again,

So we're not concentrating on whether the breath is coming in or out,

We're being aware of the whole process top to bottom of the breath and then widening that awareness again to the whole of the body,

Any sensations you feel in the body particularly feeling the weight of the body and the contact with the chair,

The cushion or the floor that you are sitting or lying on,

Being aware of the light coming in through the eyelids and being aware of the space around you and take a few deep breaths bringing your awareness back into the room you are sitting in or lying in,

Do not hurry to get up take as much time as you need and maybe take a moment to reflect on your meditation experience noticing any changes in your mental or emotional state and of course expressing gratitude to yourself for taking the time to practice meditation and giving a gift to yourself this day and when you are ready you can get up.

Thank you for joining me in this meditation,

May a blessing be on your day.