Mindfulness Of Breathing

A fluid and organic approach to mindfulness of breathing as a calming & focusing practice, taking you from arriving, to being aware of the whole body, and the complexity of the breathing process. This was recorded LIVE, so please do not expect studio quality sound. Check out my other meditations on Insight Timer for cleaner audio.

Transcript

I'm just beginning by just noticing everything.

What's arising right now from the outside world.

Just noticing light going through your closed eyelids.

And what sounds are arising.

Sensing the space around you.

Feeling your body in physical contact with the floor,

With your seat.

And the air touching your skin.

Feeling more aware of sensations arising throughout the body.

And rather than doing a kind of body scan where your awareness is travelling through the body,

Part by part.

Just seeing if you can have a kind of a defocused gaze into the body.

If you're just looking with the eyes soft and unfocused and just being aware of all the sensations that are arising moment by moment.

Actually allow the muscles around your eyes to soften to help you to relax into that awareness of the body.

And beginning to notice the sensations more that are connected with the breathing.

And when I talk about the breathing I'm meaning any sensations at all.

And the body arising in connection with your body breathing.

All of the movements in the belly,

In the chest.

Feeling that arises independence upon those movements.

Changing pattern of contacts between your skin and your clothing.

On the front of the belly.

On the sides.

On your lower back.

Senses in the muscles in the abdomen.

Just noticing that those movements don't just take place on the front of the body.

Those muscles run all the way around to the spine.

And deep inside the abdomen there are sensations.

Perhaps just a changing pattern of pressure and release.

Senses of the diaphragm.

Just noticing what sensations are arising moment by moment in the upper body.

The ribcage is expanding and relaxing.

Moment by moment there is a changing pattern of sensations on the skin.

On the front of the chest.

The sides of the whole upper back.

And as your breathing rises and falls you may notice sensations in the shoulders.

Perhaps even in the shoulder joints themselves.

Senses in the arms.

So as your shoulders are rising and falling there is a slight tug and release on the muscles in the upper arms.

If your upper arms are resting against the chest then perhaps there is some referred movement.

Perhaps if your lower arms or your hands are resting against your belly then again they are moving with the rhythm of your breathing.

Perhaps you might want to just drop down again to the side of the chest.

The belly and the pelvic area.

Noticing the movements of the breathing there and seeing if you can notice sensations connected with the breathing in your hip muscles.

Muscles around your hip joints.

Perhaps there is a subtle change in the pressure of your buttocks on your seat as you breathe in and out.

Perhaps with the rising and falling of the breathing there is some change in the sensations in your legs,

Your upper legs,

Your calves,

Your feet.

The sensations aren't just imagined.

Your blood pressure changes as you breathe in and out.

That changes the sensations in the body.

Moving back up the body.

Noticing the internal sensations of air flowing in.

Through the nose,

The throat,

Down into the chest.

And air flowing out again.

Perhaps with the rising and falling of the breathing there is a change in the air flow in the air.

Perhaps you can feel the breath flowing over the upper lip.

So there is a massive number of sensations arising and passing away.

And again just seeing if you can relax the muscles around your eyes.

Relaxing the focus of your attention.

So you are becoming more aware of the totality of this process,

This arising,

This passing away.

And just have it so fast.

Notice how in every moment your body is moving in three dimensions.

As you breathe your body,

Parts of your body are moving forward and backward.

As you breathe in the front of the chest is moving forward.

Your back is moving backward.

As you breathe out,

The chest is moving backward and the back of the chest is moving forward.

Your shoulders are rising and falling.

The diaphragm is pushing down and relaxing,

Moving back up.

So it's almost as if the body is a balloon expanding,

Deflating a little on the outbrow.

Inflating again on the inbrew.

So just seeing if you can stay in touch with this three-dimensional movement of the body.

So just seeing if you can stay in touch with this three-dimensional movement of the body.

But really this is all not three-dimensional but four-dimensional.

Change is taking place in time.

So just seeing if you can focus on each moment of awareness as it arises and passes away.

Passing this moment and this moment and this moment and this moment.

Each moment,

Vanishingly brief.

And as soon as it arises.

And no moment ever returns.

So just giving your full attention to each moment.

And just seeing the moment as it arises and passes away.

So just seeing the moment as it passes away.

And just seeing the moment as it passes away.

So just seeing the moment as it passes away.

And the whole of the breathing is a continuous process of unfolding sensations.

So allowing your attention to be continuous as well.

So just seeing the moment as it passes away.

And just seeing the moment as it passes away.

And now I'd suggest being aware of more subtle sensations.

Subtle sensations connected with the breathing.

So I suggest you direct your attention toward the actual feeling of air moving through the passageways.

Through the nostrils and the nasal passages,

Down the throat into the lungs.

And moving back from the lungs,

The throat,

The nasal passages,

The nostrils.

And if there's any effort to notice those sensations,

It's a very,

Very gentle effort.

Before just letting those sensations come to you.

Compiler.

I'm just seeing if you can make a very gentle effort to be a little more aware of sensations of air flowing in and out just at the nostrils and perhaps the nasal passages.

Again staying in touch with the continual flow of sensations moment by moment.

And then just noticing once again all of the sensations connected with air flowing.

In and out of the body.

The actual contact that your body is making with the air.

Senses of the chest,

Of the belly.

Deep inside the body.

On the muscles.

Encasing your body.

And on the skin covering the body.

Just being open to all sensations arising from anywhere in the body.

From the floor up to the crown of your head.

Being open to sensations arising from the external world.

Sounds and light.

And the contact,

Physical contact,

The touch of your body against the world,

Against the seat,

The floor,

The air surrounding you.

And we don't actually bring the practice to a close.

We've simply brought into being a certain quality of awareness.

And we allow that awareness to more fully rejoin the outside world by allowing the eyes that are Basically our Delthers are setting a new delirium.

Reviews

Well paced, opened new dimensions of breathing … or my awareness of breathing.

Bodhi is an excellent teacher

A detailed breath focus meditation. Thank you for this.

Great creative approach to this practice. Will be coming back to it.

Different ending- just allow awareness to continue.

Appreciate the recognition of various aspects of the breath, beyond what I've commonly heard in other meditations. Would have preferred more time to sit with each aspect suggested before going to the next. Got a bit more time to sit with cues as it went on. I like the ending suggestion that this awareness continues even as we open our eyes and enter the rest of our day.

Lovely soothing voice thank you 🙏 🧘🏻‍♂️

As always beautiful and with lots of space

Very helpful. Peaceful and specific. Above all unhurried. The rhythm of the instructions was ideal and the voice full of loving kindness. Thank you.

very calming and makes me aware of my body and thinking

Wonderful breath meditation. I will use this to practice nightly

Very gentle peaceful and sparse guidance. Beautiful!

I love this gentle, calming exploration of the richness and subtlety of the breath. Bodhipaksa has a beautiful soft but authoritative voice. One you can trust!

Great meditation but the end is a little sudden.

I’m grateful to this man.

Wow! Not an easy sit for me, today, yet definitely what I needed. Thank you 🙏

Great ! I did it straight after the 10 min one 😊love the pace , the anatomy bits , the 3D -4D - and your voice 🙏 seems a mix of Irish And Scottish - but what ever it is it’s lovely 💚

Although I was hoping for a standard mindfulness of breathing meditation, this was a more guided body awareness. V good, thank you! 🙏🏻

Outstanding! Great pace, calming voice and some very interesting insights - especially after many days of simply self guided meditation, a breath of fresh air into my practice. Thank you so much!

Thank you, great practice.

Love all the subtle body exploration that’s part of this practice. May you be happy, May you be well!