Centering Breath Meditation

This unique meditation combines a mindfulness breath practice with a "centering practice." When I learned martial arts, and also in contact improvisation, developing the capacity to "move to the center" with a single breath has proven immensly valuable in my life. With practice, you can quickly and easily use a centering breath to gracefully and powerfully "cohere" your awareness in a centered, more mindful place when under stress. This is a great resource when encountering unexpected stressful moments in your life. Practice this centering breath meditation and then in your day, just take a deep breath breath and think "center", relax, and feel your bits coming together a bit more than were. A great ally to have in these stressful time.

Transcript

Welcome to the Centering Breath meditation. This is just one way to do this meditation. There are lots of ways. And you're encouraged to find a way that works for you. As always, We begin by taking our attention and turning it inside. Turning it toward your inner experience. Whatever is going on for you. And taking a moment to ensure that for the next 10 minutes or so, That you'll be uninterrupted as best you can. Looking inward, Closing your eyes or lowering your gaze. Take a big breath and exhale and let go. Relax. Whatever you wish to let go of. Whatever. Tension. Just the surface stuff. Beginning to organize and orient your attention to not paying attention to the outer, But paying attention to the inner. Give our bodies and our minds some time to adapt to this completely different kind of experience of the moment. Taking a breath and relaxing again. And with each breath, Just noticing that you're becoming a little calmer. A little more peaceful. Focusing on your breath. And releasing. Just imagining pressing pause on your day. Whatever's gone before. And even if you have lots of things that are going on, Or will be going on, You can just tell yourself for a little while, You don't need to make any decisions or choices about any of that. If that's okay, You can just focus on this practice. Take a breath and just relax your whole body. As you exhale, Letting any tension that's there to release, Just let it go as best you can. And again, Take a breath in, Relax, And letting the tension go from the body. One more time, Taking a breath in, And exhaling and relaxing. I'm going to invite you now to find some place in your inner world, Your inner body, That feels like center to you. And I'm going to invite you to do this in a particular way. To take in a breath, And as you breathe in, As if you your world was to just suddenly cohere into that center point. As if your consciousness was very finely balanced and focused on that center point. Not intensely so that there's a super concentrated effort, But just in a very focused way. Just take a breath, And think center. And just let that center place be wherever it wants to be. For me, Because of my background and training, It's in the center of my head. For others, It can be the top of the head, It can be above the navel, Or near the navel, Or the heart. Center of the body. Whatever seems natural and normal. Again, We'll just take a breath in, And move to the center. Center. Just think center. Let all of your energy and your focus move to that center. Relax and let go. But keep that sense of center. Again, We'll take a breath, Inward, Center. As you exhale, Keep that sense of center. Imagine, If you will, That there's like a bubble around you. And you're squarely in the center of that bubble. And this bubble is with you everywhere. Center. Breathe in, Right to the center. I'm going to let this bubble be sort of a stage of sorts. A place where we can sit in the center safely, Securely, Balanced, But solid. And extend your senses out to the edge of this bubble. You can feel the space of it. Again, Breathe in and center. So that whatever's in this bubble, You have a sense of. Right now, It's just you in the center. And just let, If there's something that's on your mind, Something that's unsolved, A little bit of a concern, Let that kind of be almost like a representation of that in the bubble. You're not going out to it. It just presents itself almost as if there was an icon or a symbol of it. And whatever it is, Whatever energy it has, You're in the center and you sense, Oh yeah, That's unfinished. I'm worried about that. And you just notice that and acknowledge it. Keep coming back to center. And then let something else come to the bubble, Come into the bubble that is something you feel good about. Yeah, That feels good. Let yourself be in rapport, In relationship with that feeling. So now you have two things. And you're in the center, Sensing these feelings. Continue to come to center. And maybe these things change. That's OK. Just notice. In a relaxed way, Let something else come into your awareness. It's represented in this bubble. Continue to center. And breathe. Notice how it feels. You don't go to it. Simply notice what it feels like. And let other items come into this bubble almost like eventually you're surrounded, Not surrounded in a bad way, But there are around you multiple little symbols or images of things that are important in your life. And each one have its own space and its own sense of your relationship to it. Nothing overwhelming. If it is feeling strong, Notice that it feels strong and then make it a little smaller. Say, Yeah, I feel that strength of that. We'll tend to that later. For now, Just stay in the center. Take a breath. Come to center. It doesn't matter how many of these there are. You are still in the center. These are just a part of your world. So you're just noticing, Yeah, This is my world. I'm the center of all these things. Very kindly and graciously, Just nod and bow, If you will, If you wish. To acknowledge that this is your world. This is who you are. The you in relationship to all these things. You are none of them, But they are in your life. And then whatever you wish to release that can be released, Just let it go now, Taking a breath, Coming to center, And feeling in some way if it's there for you some gracefulness and compassion for who you are, The work that you do, And the way that you've chosen to show up in the world. Continuing to come to center, Take a breath in center. And feel yourself centered squarely in your body. And imagine, If you will, You walk through your day in this centered place, Connected to your entire life, To the wholeness of who you are. And that sense of center kind of feels solid in a way. Not so much balanced on a precipice, But rooted. So you're able to walk through space, Walk through time, Walk through your life, Walk into a room, And feel like your center moves with you. And feel like your center moves with you. And take your breath, Come to center. And with this sense, Just let yourself begin to organize around coming back to the external world, Feeling yourself in whatever position you're in, In your chair, Laying down, Maybe walking. And bringing your attention to the fact that you are in the center of your experience. And you can use this breath any time to bring you into that somatic experience. I'm centered. And things in your world are not you. They're just things in your world. Letting yourself have your relationship to them without giving up your center. Take a breath, Relax. Blessings to you. Thank you.