Three-Part Breath Awareness (With Music)

Cultivating a steady practice of breath awareness helps to disconnect the distractions of the mind and the outer environment. With repeated practice, improve concentration, reduce stress and instill a sense of inner ease. Suitable as a foundational practice for beginners and an anchor practice for more advance meditators.

Transcript

Taking a comfortable seat, Push down into your legs, Lift your spine tall, Close or lower your eyes. Begin to breathe in through your nose and as you exhale open the mouth and you can sigh it out of your mouth or if you have extra tension that you want to release around the jaw sticking out the tongue as you exhale. With each exhalation you start to let go of the past and the future and begin to bring your mind into the present moment allowing your mind to settle into the body. Now let's move into a breath focused practice. First become aware of the outer environment, The sounds, Smells or sensations that may distract you. Be aware of the inner environment of the workings of your mind. Notice if the mind is active or if the mind feels dull, Lethargic. When you notice that your mind becomes distracted by the outer or the inner environment, Have compassion. Let it serve as a reminder to train focus. Bringing your attention back to your breath in a gentle manner. A focused mind is a relaxed mind, Is a healing mind. So moving your awareness to the breath as it moves in and out of your nostrils. Notice the cool dry air going in and when you exhale notice that the air is a little bit moister and warmer. Cool air going in, Warm air going out. If you're not able to discern the subtle temperature difference, Just notice the breath as it goes in through the nostrils and flows out through the nostrils. Try to maintain focused attention on the breath at the nostrils or the temperature change for the next minute. If the mind is wandering, Gently remind yourself to bring your awareness to the nostrils. Very good. Let's move your awareness down to your chest, Noticing how your ribs move outward and inward. If your mind is wandering a lot, Just notice that. Stay patient with yourself and bring it back to the focus point. If you're able to focus easily, Be aware of that and notice how you react to how you practice. Do you interpret it negatively, Positively, Or are you neutral? Very good. Let's move the mind to the belly so that when you inhale your belly will go slightly outward. When you exhale your belly goes slightly in. As you inhale, Notice the belly goes slightly out and you exhale the belly moves slightly in. Train your mind to focus on the movement of the breath at the belly, Outward, Inward. For the next minute, Stay present to the movement of breath at the belly. Very good. Move your awareness back to your breath as it moves in and out of your nostrils. Become aware of the inner environment. If your mind was able to focus, Do you feel a little bit more relaxed or at ease? Or perhaps today was a mentally challenging day? In which case, Give yourself a pass and extend some compassion to yourself as this is a practice and requires consistent effort and patience. Notice the outer environment now. Breathing into your nose, Exhaling completely, And when you're ready you can open your eyes.