Mindfulness of Breath & Body

So the mindfulness of body and breath meditation,

This will be a 30 minute meditation.

So just to orientate us towards the practice,

Just bringing to mind our intention.

Our intention for this practice is practicing stepping out of the automatic pilot.

Placing our attention on the body,

On the breath,

With an attitude of non-striving,

Allowing experience to be as it is.

And as the name implies,

We'll be using as a focus for our practice,

The breath,

A normal calm breath.

And anchoring our attention down in the body.

So as we take time settling down into our chosen posture,

Taking our awareness down to that contact,

That contact with the ground,

With the floor.

Feeling the weight,

The pressure,

Those points of contact wherever they may be,

In the feet,

The legs,

Sitting bones.

Bringing our awareness onto our experience in this very moment.

Asking ourselves the question,

What is my experience right now?

What is my experience right now?

Taking a moment to become aware of our thoughts,

Maybe quite an active mind as we come away from the doing mode.

Moving more towards the possibility of the being mode.

So just allowing,

Not resisting,

Not fighting,

Just allowing thoughts,

Acknowledging thoughts.

And to help us practice some perspective on our thoughts,

Just maybe labeling thoughts.

Thinking.

Worrying.

Planning.

With awareness comes choice,

And maybe choosing to take your awareness down into the body.

So what's the experience in the body?

Maybe relaxed and easy,

Maybe not relaxed,

Maybe tense.

Whatever,

Just practicing allowing that to be,

Bringing it into the light of our awareness.

And within the body experiences the breath.

So practicing gathering our attention down onto the breath and the whole breathing process.

Breathing in and noticing the expansion of the ribcage,

Diaphragm lowering down.

And as we exhale,

Everything coming back to neutral.

Just practicing following that movement,

In-breath expansion,

Out-breath coming back to neutral.

If you find it useful,

Maybe counting the breaths.

Inhaling one,

Exhaling one.

Inhaling two,

Exhaling two.

And in your own time just counting up to ten,

And then returning back to one.

Gently bringing our awareness into the field of emotions.

Maybe pleasant emotions,

Maybe unpleasant emotions.

Practicing allowing,

Recognizing.

And then practicing gently coming back onto the breath,

To the best of our abilities,

Following the breath all the way in,

Following the breath all the way out.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

If you find your thoughts take you off away from the breath,

That's okay,

It's quite normal.

We're not failing.

No need to give ourselves a hard time.

Just kindly and gently notice,

Acknowledging where the thoughts have taken us.

And with awareness comes choice.

And maybe choosing to come back.

Coming back down into the body.

Gathering onto the breath.

If in the body we notice some discomfort or tension,

Just gently allow it to be.

There's no right or wrong way to feel.

Just gently bringing into the light of our awareness all aspects of our experience.

And then maybe taking our awareness to this area of difficulty.

And practice breathing into it.

Literally imagining the breath entering and leaving that part of the body.

Practicing allowing.

Practicing softening.

Practicing kindness to the whole of my experience.

Practicing bringing down the center of gravity,

Down out of the head,

Down into the body.

Breathing in,

Expansion.

Breathing out,

Everything coming back to neutral.

Breathing in,

The breath always with us.

Taking some quality time to be with our breath.

Not judging it or softening any judging of it.

It is what it is.

Bringing our attention down.

Connecting again with the earth,

With the floor.

Breathing down through our legs,

Our feet,

Our sitting bones.

Breathing in.

Breathing out.

Breathing all the way in.

Breathing all the way out.

The breath with us throughout our life connecting.

This constant urban flow like waves on a beach.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

Our thoughts taking us off thinking about the experience,

Connecting with other experiences.

Remembering,

Planning.

Practicing with our thoughts.

Acknowledging.

And then gathering again our attention down.

Down in the body,

Down on the breath.

Taking in sounds,

The silence.

A broad awareness.

A broad awareness of us breathing within our body.

Practicing here in this room.

Practicing kindness to the whole of our experience.

Sometimes pleasant,

Sometimes unpleasant,

Sometimes neutral.

Practicing anchoring down onto the breath.

The breath as our refuge coming home to our breath.

So as we broaden our awareness,

Just practicing becoming aware of the whole of our experience.

The experience in the body,

The experience in thoughts,

And our experience in emotions.

With an attitude of kindness,

Acceptance.

And then practicing gently gathering our attention back down onto the breath.

Breathing in.

And breathing out.

So gently broadening out again,

Out into sounds,

Silence.

And then to finish,

Gathering back onto the body,

Onto the breath,

And down into the ground,

Grounding ourselves.

So finishing off.

Breathing in and breathing out,

Down into the ground.

Breathing in and breathing out,

Down into the earth,

Earthing ourselves.

And in our own time,

Gradually opening our eyes,

Coming back into the room.

Congratulating ourselves for taking this time to practice stepping out of the automatic pilot,

To practice mindfulness of body,

Mindfulness of the breath.

Your meditation is now complete.