Calming Your Mind By Observing Your Breath

This gentle guided meditation invites you to follow the natural rhythm of your breath — one inhale, one exhale at a time.
As you rest your attention on your breath, the mind begins to quiet and the body to soften.
With each practice, you gently teach the mind to find calm amid overwhelm.

Background music "That Zen Moment" by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Transcript

Welcome to your mindfulness meditation practice My name is Sophie and I'm going to be guiding you through this short awareness of breath practice rooted in the vipassana buddhist tradition I invite you to find a comfortable seated position or lying down on the floor if this feels more nourishing for you today You can do this meditation with your eyes closed or eyes open Start noticing the back of your legs and your feet touching the floor if seated or your whole body if lying down We're going to start bringing the awareness to the mechanical movement of the breath choosing to notice it at the level of the abdomen the ribcage or inside your nostril if at the level of the abdomen noticing the slight rising of your belly with every inhale and the fall with every exhale if at the level of the ribcage noticing the expansion of your ribcage with every inhale and the contraction with every exhale if inside your nostril noticing the slight cooler air coming in and the slight warmer air coming out or you can choose to notice this movement all around your body wherever it's easier for you to notice it just stay there noticing each breath from the start of the inhale to the end of the exhale each breath being a new breath Thoughts may come to your mind,

Know that this is completely natural and expected and this is why we practice this awareness of breath so just notice it and gently bring your awareness back to the mechanical movement of your breath you may start notice the slight pause at the end of your inhale just before the start of the exhale and you may notice the slightly longer pause maybe at the end of your exhale before the start of your new inhale exploring how it feels to stay in this pose in that moment in between and whenever your mind wanders to some other places just notice it and gently bring it back to the mechanical movement of your breath and we're gonna bring this practice to a close if you had your eyes closed gently opening them,

Keeping a soft gaze becoming fully aware of your surrounding starting taking a deep full breath taking a moment of appreciation for yourself for showing up to practice thank you

Reviews

This was such a wonderful grounding practice. Your voice is so regulating. Looking forward to more of your meditations.