Mindfulness Of Breath, Body, Sounds & Thoughts

A simple practice, first of all grounding in the breath and body, and then expanding awareness to include sounds. The quality of attention on the arising and ceasing of sounds can then be applied to observing thoughts in the mind, giving space and perspective.This practice is part of the MBSR and MBCT courses taught at Breathing Space London.

Transcript

Mindfulness of breath body sounds and thoughts as usual pay attention to your posture makes you feel comfortable and supported let gravity do its work surrendering your weight to the chair to the cushions to the floor to the ground to the earth notice your surroundings the sounds your sense of smell touch your clothes against the body and the temperature of the air against your skin bring your awareness down to the belly to the rise and fall of the belly with the in-breath and the out-breath rest in awareness the natural depth and rhythm of your breathing as you find it as the mind wanders gently bring it back to the sensations in the belly again now from the belly to the chest how the chest expands and contracts with the in-breath and the out-breath from the chest the tip of the nose and the edges of the nostrils that subtle sensation of the air as it first moves into the body on the in-breath and when it leaves the body on the out-breath and then noticing the focus of the breath within the body that point where you first or most intensely experience a sensation of breathing and letting your attention rest there for a while and taking awareness down to the feet the soles of the feet the heels the toes and the ankles noticing the sensations there the shins the calf muscles the knees and the backs of the knees breathing through those parts of the body and paying attention to your experience there from the leaves along the thighs in a leg and hamstrings into the groin the pelvis and the hips breathing through those parts of the body bring your attention to those parts of the body as you breathe in letting go and softening on the out-breath attention to the buttocks now in the base of the spine following the spine up through the small of the back between the shoulder blades up to the base of the neck and the base of the skull across the shoulders to the tops of the arms and letting go of the weight of the shoulders and the arms rendering that weight to the floor from the tops of the arms along the upper arm towards the elbows along the forearms to the wrists into the palms of your hands tips and pads of your fingers paying attention to the sensations and the tips and pads of your fingers sensitivity to the temperature perhaps tingling sensations a very subtle level of awareness available to us and the tips and pads of our fingers and take your attention now to the face allowing the face to be soft lips of the mouth to be slightly open experiencing the flow of air over the lips into the roof of the mouth and the back of the throat softening around the nose and the eyes checking any tendency to follow the brow tense the skull allowing the skin to be soft and taking attention back to the breath again flow of air from the mouth and nose all the way down to the toes of the feet imagine your whole body's breathing and then expanding that awareness out into your environment again noticing the sounds that surround you in particular no need to go searching the sounds arise and disappear the sounds change in their intensity and their volume in their pitch sounds may have a rhythm sounds may be quiet or loud soft or harsh rough or smooth just noticing the quality and characteristics of the sounds as they arise sounds are like bubbles of the water rising up from the glass and disappearing as they reach the surface arising out of nowhere disappearing into nowhere all experiences like sounds rising and falling away our thoughts are like sounds arising and falling away and they're seeing how your thoughts arise are they quiet or loud are they pleasant or unpleasant they harsh or soft are they rough or smooth just noticing the characteristics and qualities of your thoughts letting go of the narrative thought to like bubbles in a glass of water rising from the base of the glass and disappearing as they reach the surface and your thoughts arises noticing any emotional or physical experience associated with that thought as the thought disappears allowing the associated experience to fade away with it thoughts fading in and out of awareness like clouds in the sky like waves on the beach now returning to the breath experiencing that flow of energy from the mouth the nose all the way down to the toes of the feet as the whole body comes alive to the breath expanding your awareness the sense of touch the touch of your breath touch of the fabric and cloth of your clothes against the body touch of the air and temperature of the air against the skin your sense of smell broadening your awareness back into the room again as the third chime of the bell dies away open your eyes and sing at ease

Reviews

Very good guided meditation - first time back in a few years- great meditation to get back in the habit - thank you

An effective compact meditation on breath, body, sound and thoughts. Very nice listening and meditating in the train. Thank you!

Simple and helpful instructions, soothing voice. Perfect! Thanks🙏🏻

Perfect pace and guided meditation. Thank you.

Perfect combination of breath, sound and visual meditation