Awareness Of Breath And Body (MBSR)

The following is a 30-minute awareness of breath and body meditation.

Before we begin,

Let's take a seated position either on our cushion or in a chair and coming into an upright and dignified posture.

We'll use the sound of three bells to begin and end this meditation.

So,

Let's begin by bringing our awareness into our sitting posture.

Becoming aware of our bodies in these seated positions here,

Present.

Narrowing our awareness,

Let's bring it right down into our feet as our feet make contact with the floor.

Just noticing what sensations are present in this part of the body right now.

And,

Shifting our awareness from our feet,

We can begin to notice any sensations that are present in our legs.

If we're sitting cross-legged on a cushion,

We might notice the sensation of our legs as they make contact with each other.

Or if we're sitting in a chair,

We may notice the sensations as our backs of our calves and our thighs make contact with the chair.

And bringing awareness to whatever is here currently.

Even if there's not much sensation,

That's okay too.

Just beginning to be with what is in our body.

And now shifting our awareness again to our buttocks as our buttocks makes contact with either the cushion or the chair.

Noticing what's happening in this part of the body,

It's not uncommon for us to tense up a lot of our muscles in order to sit.

And often it's not necessary.

So just noticing if our legs and our buttocks are tense right now.

And there's really not any need for that in order to be in this sitting position.

And now shifting our awareness again up our back.

Just becoming aware of our entire spinal column.

Bringing awareness to this upright and intentional posture that we're in.

And shifting our awareness again,

Moving into our hands.

Perhaps your hands are clasped together or maybe they're resting on your thighs.

Bringing our awareness into the left and the right hands.

And paying close attention to what's present right now.

Now shifting again,

We can move our awareness into the belly.

This is a place where it becomes easier possibly to detect the sensations of breathing.

Perhaps there are other sensations associated with digestion or perhaps there's not much going on right now at all.

And this is a real opportunity to be with our body in a non-judgmental way.

Just to touch in with whatever is present without needing anything else to be there.

Without judgment.

Just the simple act of noticing.

Now we can move our awareness up our front of our torso into our chest.

And just pausing for a moment to notice the sensations in this part of our body.

Another place that perhaps it's a little easier to detect the sensations of the breath here.

You might take a moment and just notice what sensations are present in the heart.

Practicing in mindful meditation also brings about the opportunity to do so with a gentleness and a sense of compassion.

And this emanates directly from the heart.

So just taking a moment and noticing the quality of the sensations of your heart right now.

Just breathing in and out.

Is the heart open?

Is there a softness?

Do you get a sense of hardness or the heart being closed off?

And again this isn't about judging or needing any part of our body to be different.

It's accepting just that this is where we are right now.

Just in this moment.

Now shifting our awareness again,

Moving up from the heart,

The chest,

Into the neck and the face.

Even if there are any sensations in the jaw,

In the cheeks,

In the interior of our mouths.

Moving up and noticing our nose,

This is another place where it becomes easier to detect the sensations of breathing again.

Often very differently than the breath at the chest or the belly.

Just noticing any sensations that are currently around the nose.

And shifting up in the eyes.

Noticing the sensations of the face from inside out.

Even with our eyes closed it's possible to detect the sensation of lightness.

You might take a moment and just notice if there's tension around your eyes.

And shifting our awareness again to the very top of our head.

Now because awareness is so flexible we can take this narrow awareness and expand it out down the sides of our face to include our ears,

Down our neck,

Down our shoulders,

Down both arms,

Including our torso,

Back and front,

Moving down through our buttocks,

Our legs,

All the way down to our feet.

And bringing this broad awareness back into the sitting position and taking a moment now,

In this moment,

To notice the sensations that are accompanying sitting now.

And as you bring your awareness to your entire body it's possible to become aware of the sensation of stillness.

And as we sink into this experience of stillness,

Possibly a little bit more than when we began this meditation,

It's also possible to become more aware of the breath and the movement of the breath.

So just allowing the body and the body sensations to drop into the background and bringing our awareness to the breath cycle now.

Just resting and receiving each breath just as it is.

Hi everyone.

Allowing each breath just to be however it is.

If it's a short breath,

Allowing it to be a short breath.

If it's a long breath,

Allowing it to be a long breath.

Just letting go of control and receiving this moment as it is.

And it's very common to get lost in thought,

To find ourselves down the road somewhere in a whole fantasy,

A whole imaginative state.

And if you find yourself here,

Be grateful that you found yourself and just allow yourself to gently return to the breath cycle.

Without judgment,

Without labeling it that you've done this meditation wrong,

We get lost in our thoughts a thousand times sometimes during a meditation.

And we can simply see this as an invitation to come back,

To revisit this present moment,

To be curious about how this breath is arising,

To notice this breath in the chest or in the belly.

And we can simply see this as an invitation to come back,

To revisit this present moment,

To revisit this present moment,

To revisit this present moment,

To revisit this present moment,

To revisit this present moment,

To revisit this present moment,

To revisit this present moment,

Bringing ourselves back to the present moment over and over,

This basic journey of mindfulness.

Being present over and over,

Using the breath as an anchor,

As a home base of sorts.

And we can simply see this as an invitation to come back,

To revisit this present moment,

To revisit this present moment,

To revisit this present moment,

To revisit this present moment.

And if you find your mind becoming restless,

Wishing this moment were over,

Wanting to be somewhere else,

It's possible just to notice this,

Drop the reactivity,

And come back to the breath.

This is the experience of paying attention on purpose,

Without judgment,

To just this breath.

And now this breath.

This is the experience of paying attention on purpose.

This is the experience of paying attention on purpose.

And now,

Expanding out our awareness from this breath cycle.

To,

Again,

Include the entire body.

So being with the stillness of the body,

The movement of the breath,

And just allowing both of these to be in the forefront of our awareness.

Each moment,

A new breath arises and passes.

Simply a body sensation arises.

Maybe it hangs around for a little while,

And it too passes.

This happens over and over.

Most often we're not very aware of it.

This is an opportunity to really be present,

Receive each breath,

Receive each body sensation,

But without clinging,

Allowing them to move at their own speed,

Follow their own process.

Investing in this awareness to receive whatever is next,

Whatever's here.

Comment below.

And if a body sensation that is uncomfortable or even painful arises,

Often our first reaction is to try to move away from it.

And just during this meditation I encourage you to just try to stay with it a little bit longer,

Noticing and bringing awareness to whatever sensation is present,

If it's tingling or throbbing.

Whatever's present,

Just knowing it a little bit more deeply.

And of course learning to be present is also knowing our needs.

And so if you need to shift in order to manage the pain,

That is important self-care.

And my suggestion would be just to remain mindful during the movement and notice what happens.

And all of this is without judgment.

Resting in this awareness of our body and the breath.

Resting in this awareness of our body and the breath.

Just being here.

Awake,

Alert,

And present.

Resting in this awareness of our body and the breath.

Resting in this awareness of our body and the breath.

Resting in this awareness of our body and the breath.