Beginner's Mindful Breathing

Mindful breathing is a practice that serves beginners and the most experienced meditators. It's not always everyone's favorite practice :) but it's an invitation to allow the mind and body to settle. This meditation practice is designed for beginners that are on their beginning journey for mindfulness. There is an instruction given at the beginning of the practice to give some practical thoughts around a mindful breathing practice and then the practice itself is heavily guided. I welcome any practioner to share their experience in the comments and thank you for your practice.

Transcript

Hi everyone, I'm Stephanie Boxer Baum. Thank you so much for meditating with me today. For today's practice, We're going to be doing a simple mindful breathing practice. Now, I know when I first started meditating, The idea of just focusing on my breath seemed almost impossible. So if you're just starting out, I completely understand that you may have a lot of questions like, What if I can't connect to my breath? What if I can't stay focused? But not to worry, We're going to take everything step by step. And this will be a very guided practice. So we'll take it slow. I'll walk you through it. And really all we're doing in this practice is just staying connected to our breath. So you'll have your eyes closed or you can keep a soft gaze if that works better for you. And you're just going to focus gently and easily on the air coming into your nostrils. Coming out of your nostrils. And then just continuing to do that. And one thing that happens often when we're doing mindful breathing is our minds. Start thinking of other things. What you're going to have for lunch, What you're doing later. And that's very normal. The idea is that we're not trying to stop our thinking because we're never really going to be able to do that. And we don't want to. What we're allowing ourselves to do in these moments is to cultivate concentration. So when the mind wanders, As you can see behind me, There's a bunch of clouds. You just let the thoughts go by like clouds. And just simply let them go by and bring your attention back to your breath. So we'll try this. You've got to be gentle on yourself, No pressure, And just try it out and see. Every meditation is different, No matter if you've been practicing for 20 years or if today is your first day. The hope is that we start, Right? We start a practice. We allow ourselves to see how it goes, To be kind to ourselves, To be patient, And we just go from there. So, On that note. . . Finding a comfortable seat. And really when I say comfortable, That means whatever feels supportive and good for you today. So if that looks like laying down, Lay down. If you feel like doing mindful walking, That's also something that a lot of people do. So it's really just whatever feels supportive to you. So you can find a comfortable chair. That's what I'm in right now. So wherever that landing place is for you. Is coming to. A calm, Still moment for yourself. And when you're ready. . . Gently closing your eyes. I'm going to close my eyes too for this one. And let's just take a moment to let the body settle. Taking a deep, Gentle breath in. And a long exhale out. Doing that once more, Deep, Deep breath in. Gentle exhale out. And just allowing the mind and the body to settle. It's okay if you're having a lot of thinking happening. Just notice what's there. Don't have to change any of it. Just being with yourself in this moment. Thanking yourself for taking the time to practice is enough. So letting go of whatever you were doing before this. Whatever you're going to be doing afterwards, Just simply being here right now. So on this next inhale in. And a deep exhale out. Sharing an invitation to begin to focus in on the breath. Noticing the cool air going through the nostrils. Deep exhale. And if that feels a little challenging, You can also put your hands. Right kind of where your stomach is, Just allowing yourself to experience the rise and fall of the lungs. Deep breath in. Gentle breath out. Simply noticing. The experience of breathing. Allowing your body to do what it does without additional effort. Breathing in ease. Exhaling calm. Breathing in peace. Exhaling stillness. And thoughts may come up, That's okay. Letting them go backwards. Back in the sky like clouds. And gently returning your attention to the breath. So on these next few inhales and exhales, We'll practice the four count breaths. So we're going to inhale for four. And exhale for four. So inhaling one. To. For Pausing at the top of the breath. Exhaling one. 1. . . 2. . . 3. . . Allowing for a cleansing breath in between. And this is just a suggested pace. You can go at your own pace, Your own timing. Gently breathing in. Why? Kills. Three. Or. . . Pausing at the top. Exhaling 1 2 3 4. And we'll try this for the next few minutes. I'll watch our time. And just being gentle with yourself. Counting in four breaths. Exhaling out four breaths. Allowing for that continuity of attention. Only on the breath. Nowhere else that you have to be right now, Nothing else you have to do. Simply coming to this place of stillness. And ease. So on this next inhale in. And a deep exhale out. Just allowing your body and mind to settle. Letting go of the four count for us. Just returning to your normal, Easy breathing. Maybe beginning to wiggle the fingers and toes a bit, Coming back to your surroundings. And when you're ready. Gently opening your eyes. Thank you so much for practicing with me today. Please feel free to message me in the reviews if you have any questions about this meditation and just getting going on your meditation journey. I look forward to meditating with you soon and always, Of course, Sharing the reminder that you are always enough as is. Okay, Hope to see you soon.