Mindfulness Of Breathing

Welcome to this Mindfulness of Breathing practice.

My name is Federica but we can shorten it as Frida if you like.

I'm Italian and I work here in Italy as a mindfulness and MBSR teacher.

And this is the very first mindfulness practice that I lead here on this app,

On Insight Timer in English.

I speak English as a foreign language of course,

So if in any moment of the practice and for any kind of reason you feel uncomfortable with the way I speak or the words I use or whatever,

Please feel free to first of all be kind to yourself and to me if you can.

And to choose some other teacher,

Some other practice as long as you feel comfortable and you can let yourself flow with the practice we are sharing.

So let's start this little practice together.

Let's take a sitting posture.

You can be either sitting on a chair or a meditation cushion if you have one or even on the couch.

Any kind of posture is basically okay with mindfulness practice as long as you can keep it for the time of the practice.

And if it's a posture that conveys a sense of dignity,

Of respect of your body and your presence here right now.

So let's take this posture together.

You can invite your eyes to close if this feels comfortable to you.

Otherwise you can keep them slightly open with your gaze unfocused on the floor before you.

Let's start by scanning through our body for a moment.

It can be skillful to bring our attention to the way we are sitting right now.

Without changing anything in the way we are sitting,

This is the posture we've chosen and it's okay.

Let's just feel our body sitting.

Let's feel what it's like to be sitting in this way.

Are we okay with the way we are sitting or do we feel some places that are uncomfortable or there's some tension?

Maybe some feelings of uneasiness in our body.

Without changing anything,

Let's just notice for this moment.

If we detect some uneasiness or some places that feel uncomfortable,

Let us give ourselves the chance to do some wise adjustments to this posture.

Maybe we can shift a little bit of weight on the seat or we can move our shoulders or our neck a little bit to stretch it.

Let's keep still if we can.

Let's contact this feeling of stillness that we can find in this posture.

Let's feel the way our feet are touching the floor,

The contact,

Our feet,

Our knees,

Our thighs,

Our buttocks.

Let's become fully aware of the contact,

Of these points of contact,

The points where our body meets the cushion,

The floor.

And allow ourselves to be held by these contacts.

There's nothing we have to do in a different way.

Just be held.

Just be.

Let's feel the touch of our hands with the thighs or a hand on the other.

If there are tiny vibrations or feelings of warmth or coldness,

Let's just notice these sensations in our hands.

Let's move to the upper part of the body,

Our torso,

Our back,

Up until the shoulders and the neck,

The arms,

And the head.

Let's feel the wholeness of our body right here in this posture,

Right here in this moment of our life.

Let's feel the touch of our hands.

There's no need to change anything.

We're just setting the intention to stay in open receptiveness of anything that will arise during the practice.

And our body is a perfect means for grounding.

Our body is always here,

It's always present.

Any moment we can come back to the feelings of contact,

Of the feet or the buttocks or the hands,

As a way to anchor our attention to the present moment.

And now let's open our attention to include the way our body is breathing.

Just as naturally as it comes,

Nothing to change,

Nothing to fix,

Nothing to obtain.

Just getting in touch with the body breathing,

Let's notice where in our body we can feel our breath the most,

The most vivid way or the easiest way.

There's no right or wrong thing to do here.

We're just noticing with curiosity where our breath is,

Giving it a kind and soft attention.

Maybe you can feel it in the abdomen,

The belly at the most,

The rising and falling of the abdomen,

The reach,

Cycle of the breath.

Or maybe you can feel it in the chest or at the nostrils with the air that comes in,

Through the nostrils with in-breath and comes out of the nostrils with the out-breath.

If you can find a place in your body where it's easier for you to feel your breath,

Then let your mind rest in that place.

Let your mind be comfortable with observing the breath.

And if you can't find any specific place,

Then just embrace the whole of your body,

The span of your attention with kindness,

Just feeling the breath flowing through the entirety of your body.

.

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Just breathing,

Nothing more,

Nothing less,

Just as simple as it is.

This amazing and natural process that is with us from the very first moment that we were born and that is going to stay with us for all the time that we're allowed to live.

.

This breath,

This breath,

This breath.

.

.

We can notice the characteristics of each breath if you like.

There can be long breaths or shorter ones.

Our breath can be shallow or deep,

Fast or slow.

There's no right or wrong breath.

Our body is breathing the way it needs to.

And we're not here to fix anything or to make anything better than it is.

We notice each moment of our breathing as it comes.

Noticing how the breath is always changing,

Like this process is always changing.

An in-breath is followed by an out-breath,

Which is followed by another in-breath and so on.

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We can notice the impermanence of our breath.

The way it's always changing.

The way it's always flowing in and out of our body.

And it may happen,

Of course,

Even many times during this practice that we find our mind is wandering some other place than the breath.

And this is perfectly fine,

It's perfectly normal and it's no mistake at all.

Anytime we notice our mind has wandered away,

We simply notice where it's gone.

And without judging it,

Without reprimanding our mind,

We simply take it gently and kindly back to the breath.

Like a soft invitation to our mind to be aware of the breath.

If you notice that you are judging yourself for your mind wandering or even if you are judging any other thing in your mind,

Then just notice this as a process of the mind.

Nothing to worry about,

It's just something that happens every time to everyone.

We just notice it.

We can give our mind a little smile for life.

Just to soften our attitude and then accompany the mind back to the breath each time.

In and out,

In-breath and out-breath,

In-breath and out-breath.

Becoming curious of this whole process of breathing,

What's it like to breathe?

How does the body move in order to let us breathe?

The belly expands and then falls back.

The belly arises,

Taking in all the air it can with the in-breath and then it falls down,

Letting the air out with the out-breath.

And in this ever-changing cycle,

You can maybe notice some little pauses,

Some little stops at the end of the in-breath and after the out-breath.

Those little pauses between our breathing cycles.

And now let's take a couple more minutes in silence just to rest in this experience of breathing.

And any time the mind wanders in any other place,

Maybe a sound or another sensations in the body or a process of thinking,

No matter what,

We simply,

Gently and compassionately bring the mind back to the breathing.

We can do so until the three ringing of the bells that you will hear.

You can do so until the three ringing of the bells that you will hear.

You can do so until the three ringing of the bells that you will hear.

Thank you for your practice.

May this practice be beneficial to all of you.