Mindfulness Of Breath And Body

A guided mindfulness meditation. This recording guides the listener into a state of awareness of the breath and body. By focusing mindfully on one's present moment experience, a state of relaxation and insight is achieved through the observation of physical sensation.

Transcript

Find a comfortable way to sit, Sitting, Standing, Lying down, Walking, Whatever feels right for you in this moment. Close or lower your eyes and relax your body. Bring attention to the sensations of the breath and continue redirecting the attention to the breath each time it wanders. Try to be as friendly and kind, As non-judgmental as possible with your mind's tendency to wander. If it feels more comfortable for you for any reason, Continue focusing on the breath. But if you feel ready, Begin to expand the attention to the whole body. Bring your attention to your posture. Feel the pressure of your body on the chair or the cushion or the floor. Feel the contact points of your hands where they're touching your legs, Resting in your lap. Direct the attention to the sensations of your body, Of sitting, Of laying down. With the foundation of present time awareness, As established by the continual returning of the attention to the breath and the body, You can now allow the attention to expand to include all of the sense doors. Begin with hearing. When you become aware of the sound, Simply pay attention to the experience of hearing, To the bare experience of sound being received by the eardrum. Although the mind wants to instantly name the object being heard, The direct experience is just variations of sound. Using memory and conditioning, The mind immediately tries to label the sound as a car passing or the birds in the trees. But in this practice, In this level of practice, We try to see the difference between the experience of the sound and the mind's conditioned labeling of the experience. So we keep it simple. It is just hearing. Bring your attention to seeing, Tasting, And smelling in the same way. Just seeing in the direct experience of what is being seen, Color, Shape, Form. Just taste, Just smelling. Notice how quickly the mind names and classifies things based on our memory. This level of deep mindfulness allows us to see how the mind is constantly trying to sort and name experiences based on our memory and our conditioning, Which rarely allows us for a new or a fresh perspective. So continue to notice. Just notice and just hear, Just see, Just smell, Just taste. When the attention gets drawn back into thinking, Simply return it to the breath. Then continue to extend mindfulness to that direct moment to moment sensory experience of the whole body. Allow the attention to be drawn to whatever experience in the body is predominant. When sounds arise, Know them as hearing. When visions arise, Know them as seeing. Don't settle for the mind's labels and conventions. Sense each moment as if it were the first sensation of its kind that you'd ever experienced. Bring a childlike interest and curiosity to your present time experience. What does this moment feel like? What's its temperature? What is texture? What's the pressure of this sensory experience? Continue to connect the attention with the felt sense of the breath and the body. Begin refining the attention to the moment to moment flux of sensations. Evaluate the constantly changing nature of each experience. With clear comprehension, Just receive the transient phenomena with nonjudgmental awareness. Attempt to sustain awareness of the arising and passing of each chosen sensation. Continue redirecting the attention and reconnecting with the present moment each time the attention is drawn back into the contents of the thinking mind. Just rest or attempt to rest in the direct experience of the breath and the body relaxing into the present time awareness of impermanence and of change.