Awareness Of Breath And Body (MBSR)

Hi,

It's Mandy here.

Welcome to the 20-minute awareness of breath and body meditation.

So just settling into a comfortable sitting position.

You might like to sit in a straight-backed chair,

Maybe sitting a little bit away from the back of the chair so that your back is self-supporting.

Just having your legs uncrossed,

Your feet flat on the floor.

Or you might like to sit on the floor on a cushion or a meditation bench.

If sitting might not work for you today and your body,

Of course,

Please choose the most comfortable posture for you.

You might want to lie on a mat or on the bed or even try standing for a little while.

And know that you can always change your position when you need to.

Just listening to your body and taking care of yourself.

So taking a little bit of time to maybe wriggle and adjust,

Seeing if you can bring a little bit more ease into the body.

If there's any areas of obvious tightness and tension,

Maybe breathing into those areas of the body,

Seeing if you can allow them to soften just a little bit.

When you're ready,

Closing your eyes if that feels comfortable to you or just having a soft relaxed gaze.

The intention of this practice is to cultivate our awareness on a single thing.

So we'll focus first on the breath and then on sensations in the body.

Just remembering that we're not trying to get anywhere with this practice.

Not about achieving relaxation or a blank mind.

We're just bringing the spotlight of our attention onto one thing with a sense of curiosity and open-heartedness.

Just allowing our awareness to settle on one thing,

Which can help us to generate a feeling of being in the present moment.

Maybe just taking a moment to check in with how you're feeling entering this practice.

Noticing what sensations are here in the body.

Any emotions or thoughts that you might have brought with you from earlier in the day.

Just noticing what's here.

Allowing and accepting whatever it is you find.

Knowing that whatever you feel right now is the perfect place and a perfect beginning for this practice.

You may want to take a couple of deeper breaths to really help you to arrive into this place of awareness.

Stretching up on the in-breath.

Relaxing and settling on the out-breath.

To begin we'll bring our attention to the breath.

To this process of breathing.

Allowing the breath to come and go.

Just noticing all the different movements and sensations of breathing.

Becoming aware of where you feel the breath most strongly in your body.

It might be the stretching of the abdominal muscles as the belly rises and falls.

It might be the movements of the ribs as the chest moves with each breath.

The lungs filling and emptying.

You might feel the breath most strongly in the nostrils as the air comes in and out of the body.

Or it might be somewhere else in the body too and that's totally fine.

Just allowing your awareness to settle in that place where you feel the breath most strongly.

The movements and sensations of breathing.

No need to change or alter the breath in any way.

Just letting the breath breathe itself.

Knowing that this life-giving process happens so many times in each day,

Often without our knowledge.

The breath knows exactly what to do.

Expanding and contracting.

Rising and falling.

Each breath coming and going.

And if you notice your mind has wandered away from the breath,

That's okay.

Don't worry.

You haven't done anything wrong.

Your mind might have wandered away to some planning,

Thoughts,

Remembering,

Daydreaming.

As best you can,

Just notice where your mind has gone and gently and kindly call it back.

Allowing the attention to come back and rest in the movements and sensations of breathing in the body.

And just settling here in this breath and this breath.

You may notice how the breath has a wave-like motion,

Just like the ocean.

Coming in and coming out.

Just settling and resting here.

Allowing the waves of the breath to come and go.

Becoming aware of the movements and sensations of each breath.

Really sensing these movements.

Not thinking about breathing.

Just allowing the breath to breathe itself.

When your mind wanders,

Remembering that that's not an opportunity to beat yourself up.

You haven't made a mistake.

You just gently and calmly call the attention back to the movements and sensations of breathing.

And if you need to do that 100 times throughout this next practice,

That's okay.

You just call it back 100 times.

Over and over.

Starting again.

Moment by moment.

Coming home to the breath.

Can you become curious and interested in this process of breathing?

What is the quality of your breath?

Is it rough or smooth?

Is it deep or shallow?

Remembering that there's no right or wrong way to breathe.

Just allowing a curiosity and a sense of interest in this process.

Each breath is new.

An opportunity to start again.

When you're ready,

Gathering your awareness and allowing it to expand to take in the whole body.

Your whole body sitting here or lying here.

Getting a sense of the body from the inside all the way out to the skin.

Noticing the touch of clothing.

The connection between your body and the surface that's supporting you.

Perhaps becoming aware of the feet and any sensations that you notice here.

Whether they're in contact with the floor.

Just noticing sensations in the feet.

Perhaps bringing your awareness to your hands.

Noticing any sensations here.

And if your hands are resting on your body,

Just connecting in with that movement and rhythm of breathing that can be felt through the hands.

Bringing a playful curiosity to the language of the body.

The language of sensations.

Checking out areas where you may feel movement such as tingling,

Throbbing,

Pulsing.

Areas of the body where you might feel a sense of pressure or density or weight.

And what about temperature?

Are there areas of the body that feel hot or cold?

All these different sensations changing,

Arising,

Passing away moment by moment in this alive,

Awake body of yours.

And using this next stretch of silence to explore the sensations of the body for yourself.

If you notice your mind has wandered away from the body,

It's okay.

That's what our minds do.

They like to think.

Just gently calling it back inside the body.

Becoming aware of sensations in the body.

Remembering that the mind wandering is not a mistake.

We're just allowing our awareness to settle in the sensations of the body as best we can.

Gently scanning the body,

Noticing sensations arising and passing away.

Sensations that are intense.

Sensations that might be subtle.

Sensations that are pleasant.

Sensations that are unpleasant.

And sometimes there'll be areas of the body that are just numb or blank,

And that's okay too.

It's about noticing them.

Letting your awareness settle and rest inside the body.

And if there is a particular part of the body where sensations are quite intense,

An area of pain or discomfort,

Seeing if it's possible to gently lean towards this area of the body with your curiosity as best you can,

Not making any judgments,

Not listening to any stories about that part of the body.

Just noticing what's here now as best you can.

And if that seems difficult or too intense,

Seeing if it's possible to just rest with the intention of noticing this part of the body.

And remembering that the breath is always there if you need it to rest back in as a place of safety.

Returning to the meditation when you feel ready.

And if you're able to bring some curiosity to the sensations that are intense,

Can you maybe explore what these sensations are like?

Seeing if you can notice the edges.

Whether the sensations are moving at all.

Whether they change over time.

Perhaps breathing into this particular area of the body that is feeling intense.

Breathing with the sensations that are already here.

Allowing and letting be as best you can.

And for the last few moments of this practice,

Allowing your awareness to settle in both the breath and the body.

This breathing body.

Noticing how the breath moves the body.

There's a rhythm and flow to each breath as it moves throughout the body.

Seeing where you can feel the breath.

Maybe in the back of the body.

In the hands.

In the face.

And knowing that at any time throughout the rest of your day,

You can bring this same kind,

Curious awareness to each breath or to sensations in the body as you notice them.

Resting in the knowledge that this is a great way to bring your awareness to the present moment.

This moment.

This breath.

This body.

Coming home to the body and the breath.

Moment by moment by moment.

When it feels right for you,

Bringing a little bit of external awareness now.

Becoming aware of the room that you're in.

Any sounds.

Perhaps opening your eyes when you're ready if you've had them closed.

Bringing a bit of movement to the body.

And maybe congratulating yourself for taking these precious moments from your day to practice cultivating awareness of the breath and the body in each moment.

Thanks.

See you next time.