Greetings and welcome to my mindfulness of the breath meditation.
Mindfulness means paying attention on purpose to the present moment with acceptance and non-judgment.
We can train our brains to become mindful and meditation is one way of doing this.
This is a basic beginner's meditation.
During this practice the primary anchor or focus of attention is the breath.
Resting your attention on the breath is a wonderful place to start if you have never meditated before because it can help us relieve stress and anxiety and help relax and calm us.
On a practical level our breath is always with us so we can turn our attention toward it any minute of any day that we want.
Most importantly our breath is what gives us life.
Every time we become aware of our breathing we remember our aliveness and come home to this body and this mind in the same place at the same time fully conscious in the present moment.
I hope you enjoy this meditation.
To start I invite you to come into a comfortable sitting,
Standing,
Or lying position.
Adjusting is necessary to adopt a posture that is dignified,
Relaxed,
And yet alert.
If it feels comfortable please close your eyes but if not feel free to maintain a soft unfocused gaze at a point of your choosing.
Let's begin this practice by bringing awareness to the body.
Simply observing what you feel as you are in this space.
Starting with the tips of your toes allow your attention to slowly rise up through your whole body.
As your attention passes through each body part please observe any areas of your body that may be feeling tense,
Tight,
Uncomfortable,
Or even in pain.
You may want to take particular notice of your forehead and jaw,
Your neck and shoulders,
Your upper and lower back,
And your belly.
If you notice discomfort of any kind see if you can either sit with that experience as is or you can gently tense that area of your body as you breathe in and relax that area of your body as you exhale letting go of the discomfort.
You might try loosening the tongue,
Wiggling your jaw,
Relaxing your shoulders back and down,
And softening your chest,
Belly,
And back.
And now in this moment allow life to be just as it is as you bring your awareness to your breath.
I invite you to take a few deep cleansing breaths breathing in deeply through the nose,
Allowing the chest and belly to rise as you fill your lungs,
Letting your abdomen expand fully.
Now breathe out through your mouth or nose slowly releasing the air from your belly and lungs.
And now another deep breath in through the nose,
Let everything expand,
And then release the out breath slowly through the mouth.
When you're ready allow your breath to return to its normal rhythm.
No need to force or control anything about your breath.
Simply notice how the breath breathes itself.
Where do you feel your breath the most easily?
Maybe you can notice cool air come in and warm air go out at the tip of the nose or in the nostrils,
Perhaps even the back of the throat.
Perhaps you notice the gentle rise and fall of the chest or the expansion and contraction of the belly.
Maybe you notice your whole body breathing.
Wherever you feel your breath most easily,
I invite you to rest your attention there.
As time passes you'll likely notice your attention easily wanders away from the breath,
Perhaps instead focusing on the thoughts of the mind.
That's okay.
Thinking is what our minds are meant to do.
When you notice this has happened,
First congratulate yourself because you've just had a moment of mindfulness.
Then gently bring your attention back to your breath.
Try to do this with kindness,
Redirecting your attention in the way you might gently redirect a small toddler or a puppy as it wanders away from you to explore its environment.
You might find it helpful to softly note in the background of your mind the words calm or ease with each breath or to simply name the anchor of your awareness,
Such as breathing.
Breathing,
Perhaps even adding a short mantra might be meaningful,
Such as I breathe in love,
I breathe out peace.
An alternate way to practice is by using breath counting.
For example,
You can count each in-breath and out-breath as a whisper in your mind,
Such as one,
Two,
Ending at 10 and starting back at one.
If you don't make it past one or two before your mind wanders again,
That is okay.
Just gently bring your attention back to the next breath.
You have choices here.
I encourage you to practice however feels right for you in this moment.
Where is your attention right now?
Where does it go in the quiet moments?
Maybe it's getting lost in memories of the past or plans for the future.
When that happens,
Gently name it,
Noting,
Thinking,
Thinking in your mind.
Just accept that this has happened without judgment.
And if you notice yourself judging your experience,
Name that too.
Ah,
This is judgment.
Each time you notice that your mind has wandered away from the breath,
You are doing the practice right.
See if you can bring kindness to this experience.
Maybe even thanking yourself for having patience and understanding as you again and again,
Bring your attention back to the anchor of the breath,
Tuning into your present moment experience.
When external distractions such as noises occur,
Or internal distractions such as thoughts occur,
Notice them without judgment.
Then let your attention return to the breath,
To that place where no efforting is needed,
To that place where the breath just breathes itself to bring us life.
Let other experiences rise and fall like the waves of the ocean around the breath.
Other sounds,
Sensations,
Thoughts,
Plans,
Emotions,
Or anything else.
For now,
Let them be in the background and steadily feel the breath breathe itself in the midst of it all.
See if maybe you can notice the beginning,
Middle,
And end of each breath.
Are you able to notice the space at the top of each in-breath and the bottom of each out-breath?
If so,
Maybe see if you can rest your awareness in that space ever so briefly.
Feel this breath and this breath.
And now,
Before this practice comes to a close,
I again invite you to notice how the breath simply breathes itself.
Whether we are conscious of it or not,
Every second of every day from the moment we are born,
This breath is what gives us life.
Let's give an internal deep bow of gratitude to the breath for being with us always.
Thank you,
My friends,
For listening.
Namaste.
