Awareness Of Breath

Hello,

Welcome to this guided mindfulness exercise called Awareness of Breath.

Awareness of Breath is an exercise that comes from the mindfulness-based stress reduction curriculum and is a way for us to practice noticing where our thoughts have gone and coming back to the present moment.

We'll begin today by finding a comfortable place to sit or lie down,

Whatever works best for you in these five minutes.

And if it's comfortable,

Closing your eyes to increase our mindful ability or if that doesn't feel comfortable for you today,

Pick a spot on the wall or your legs just to rest your eyes.

And sitting here with our eyes closed or focusing on one spot,

We'll begin to just notice what our breath is doing.

Not changing anything about it,

Just noticing.

And we'll deepen our noticing by choosing a place in our body where we can notice the sensations of our breath coming in and out of our bodies.

For some of us that will be our noses,

Feeling as our breath comes in and out of our nostrils.

For some of us that will be our stomach or our chest,

Noticing the rise and fall as our breath comes in and out of our bodies.

Just take a quick moment to check in and see where it's easiest for you to tune in today to your breath.

When you've landed on the place in your body,

It's easiest to tune into.

We'll rest here for a little bit,

Letting our attention just be on our breath.

At any point,

If you notice your mind begins to wander,

It's completely normal.

It is the nature of the mind to wander.

And during this practice,

What we'll try when we notice our mind going to the past or thinking about the future is experiment with labeling it,

Thinking,

Planning,

Maybe worrying,

And then shifting our attention back to the breath as many times as you need to.

And as we come together to conclude our mindfulness practice today,

We'll end by taking two deep breaths together.

And opening our eyes and coming back to the room,

Reminding ourselves that this is a practice that we can come back to whether you listen to this recording over again,

Or want to bring it into your day,

Even if it's just a very short pause to tune into your breath.

The important aspect here is not about how long your mind has been focused,

But about your ability to notice and bring back your awareness.

Thanks for joining me today.

Until next time.