Breathing In The Present Moment With Gratitude

In this meditation we will use our breath to cultivate the awareness and stillness of the present moment. Recognizing that focusing on our breath can bring us into the present moment; we learn to put a gentle awareness towards our breath and cultivate feelings of gratitude.

Transcript

Hello everyone.

My name is Catherine and thank you for joining me on this meditation of being in the present moment.

I would like to start with a quote from Eckhart Tolle and he says,

When you go deeply into the present,

Gratitude arises spontaneously.

Even if it's just gratitude for breathing or gratitude for the aliveness that you feel in your body.

And this is the intention that I would like to set for this meditation,

That we find gratitude in breathing and gratitude for the aliveness that you might feel in your body in the next 20 minutes.

Now I'll invite you to close your eyes if you haven't done so already.

And as we close off the visual sensory impressions that our eyes bring us,

We turn ourselves inward to the body.

And you might notice that there are still mental impressions.

You might have physical sensations in your body.

There might be sounds that you can hear in the room or from outside.

And I would just like you to recognize that all of these things are okay.

And that going into the present moment doesn't mean blocking out everything else that is there,

But it just means simply being here with all that there is.

So now we'll first settle into our body and we do that by becoming aware of our breath.

And just notice your breath.

Maybe you want to put a hand on your belly or a hand on your chest to be able to physically feel your breath moving through your body.

On the inhale,

Maybe your belly and your chest rises a bit.

And on the exhale,

Your belly and your chest falls a bit.

Breathing in,

I'm aware that I am breathing in.

And breathing out,

I am aware that I am breathing out.

Now you notice that you don't have to do anything to your breath.

Your breath is always there and your breath can be an intimate guide for you to notice how you're feeling.

And I invite you to just recognize what is your breath telling you right now?

How does your breath feel?

Does it feel easy?

Does it feel calm?

Does it feel maybe short or labored?

Just become very curious of what your breath feels like right now in this present moment.

And recognize also that your breath might change.

When you put more gentle awareness onto your breath,

Maybe your ability to breathe deeper or breathe slower and longer increases.

And anytime that you find that your brain starts picking at you to think about work or your to-do list,

Just recognize it.

Allow it to be there.

And without judgment,

Allow it to go and resume your curiosity and attention on your breath.

You can repeat this mantra if it's helpful.

Breathing in,

I know that I am breathing in.

Breathing out,

I know that I am breathing out.

In breath,

Using our breath to bring us here into the present moment,

You may wish to consciously now deepen your breath.

So you deepen the inhale of the breath and you slow and lengthen the exhale of your breath.

Breathing in,

I deepen my breath.

Breathing out,

I lengthen my breath.

Inhale,

Deepen and exhale,

Lengthen.

You can try this by visualizing your breath in your body.

All the way from your belly at the beginning of your inhale,

Slowly the breath moving up through your belly and your chest and your lungs,

Maybe all the way into your throat and your nose.

And on the exhale,

The breath falling back down through your throat and your chest and your belly.

And see if you can visualize the full cycle of your breath,

The inhales as well as the exhales,

Following the cyclical motion of our breath,

Inhaling and exhaling.

And again,

You might notice that your mind keeps moving or your body is feeling pain in some area or you hear something that distracts you.

And recognize that these two are also a part of this present moment.

And that to be in the present moment,

We're not blocking out things that are there,

But rather we are accepting the parts,

All of the parts of the present moment and being with them.

So allow these distractions to come.

And as you exhale,

Without judgment,

Allow them to go,

Regaining a gentle attention and awareness on your breath.

And you might like to remember the quote that I mentioned at the beginning of this meditation,

That when we go deeply into the present moment,

Gratitude arises spontaneously.

And maybe there's now a feeling of gratitude for your body or gratitude for your lungs,

For allowing you to breathe this fresh,

Clean air right now during this meditation.

Gratitude for the time that you can bring yourself into stillness in meditation.

Gratitude for the courage that it took to get yourself into meditation right here and right now.

And I invite you to see if you can tap into that gratitude and deepen that sense of gratitude.

What do you feel grateful for right now?

When I tap into this deep feeling of gratitude,

I can also recognize a warmth arising in my body.

And for me,

It begins in the belly,

In the middle area of my body,

And it expands up into my chest.

And it's as if it's a warm sunrise,

Slowly but surely getting brighter and warmer by each moment.

And we tap into the beauty and the aliveness that you feel in your body right now.

Noticing what the physical sensation of gratitude is in your body.

Can you feel it in your toes?

Can you feel it in your navel or in your chest area?

Or maybe you can feel it because the sides of your lips curl up into a smile.

And recognize that this is a power that you have in each and every moment to come back to the present moment and to feel this gratitude and this aliveness in your body.

Breathing in,

I feel alive in my body.

Breathing out,

I smile to my body.

In breath,

Feeling alive.

Out breath,

Smiling.

And again,

At any moment that you feel yourself being pulled away from this present moment by any type of distraction,

Bring yourself back into your breath.

Breathing in,

I know that I am breathing in.

And breathing out,

I know that I am breathing out.

We can cultivate this gratitude for our breath simply by becoming aware of our breath.

And recognizing that it's not something that we have to do,

But that our body beautifully takes care of this for us.

And even still,

We have the power to deepen it and to lengthen it and to engage our parasympathetic nervous system to calm our body down,

To bring us into the present moment and to cultivate gratitude.

And now I invite you to bring yourself back into your body.

Maybe move your shoulders around.

Maybe roll your head,

Stretch your neck.

Bring yourself back into your physical body and notice what sensations you feel.

And as you're curious about these sensations,

See if you can bring gratitude to them.

Gratitude for the tingling in your toes from sitting on a pillow,

Because it shows me that my circulation is working well and it's notifying me that I need to move my legs.

Gratitude for my back that is holding me up straight when I sit.

And in each breath,

See if you can breathe gratitude into these physical sensations.

Breathing in,

I become aware of physical sensations in my body.

And breathing out,

I flow gratitude to my body.

And as we near the end of the meditation,

I invite you to recall at the beginning what things you are grateful for,

Or what feelings,

Or what experiences,

What comes to mind right now.

And as you feel into these pockets of gratitude,

Maybe a small smile arises on your face.

And for me,

The gratitude of meditation,

And for you meditating with me,

For taking the time,

For creating this positive energy in this present moment,

Is a big source of gratitude for me.

And I want to thank you.

And I wish you a lovely rest of your day.