Still The Mind Through Body Awareness - 20 Minute Daily Insight

Create stillness in the mind through deeply embodied breath awareness. In this meditation, we will use the breath in the body as a way of cutting through rumination, distraction, and getting lost. This practice will leave you feeling quiet and content.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to The Daily Insight.

My name is Vidyamala Birch and today's meditation is going to concentrate on cultivating deep embodied breath awareness.

If we're inside the body,

Aware of sensations in the body,

We can't be lost in thinking at exactly the same moment.

So coming inside the body deeply,

In particular being aware of the movements and sensations of breathing in the body,

It's a really good way to cut through habits of rumination,

Distraction and getting lost.

So to begin with,

Allowing the body to settle into the position that you've chosen.

You can do the practice sitting on a chair,

Sitting on a meditation stool or cushion or lying down on the floor or your bed.

It's completely up to you.

Whatever is going to be most comfortable and yet enable you to stay awake and alert.

So once you've chosen your position,

Then really giving your weight up to the surface that you're resting upon,

Sitting upon.

Seeing if you can give the whole weight of the body up to gravity and to rest down into the points of contact.

Allow yourself to be fully supported.

And now gradually gathering your awareness deeply inside the body,

Inside the belly,

Inside the abdomen.

And resting inside the movements and sensations of breathing in this whole soft front of the body.

The area between the pelvis at the bottom and the ribs at the top.

Feeling inside breathing,

Noticing the way the belly swells on the in-breath,

Subsides on the out-breath.

There's no need to alter your breathing,

Just allowing it to be natural to find its own rhythm.

Every time your mind wanders,

Noticing this and then inviting your awareness back inside the belly.

Again and again and again.

Seeing if you can feel the movements inside the body as well as on the surface of the body.

Now allowing your awareness to drop down into the pelvic floor at the very base of the torso.

Can you feel any movements and sensations of breathing in this area?

It's completely effortless and receptive.

Relaxing the anus,

The buttocks.

Now resting awareness in the buttocks,

Allowing them to rest fully on the bed or the chair.

And now inviting awareness up into the lower back,

The whole area between the buttocks,

At the bottom and the back of the waist at the top.

And what can you feel inside your lower back as you breathe?

Maybe there's some kind of broadening on the in-breath,

Subsiding on the out-breath.

Maybe the shape is changing on the in-breath and the out-breath.

But noticing the effect of breathing into the lower back.

Sometimes this can be calming and soothing.

If you've got any discomfort,

Being careful not to tense against it,

But to allow the breathing to soothe the hard edges of contraction,

Of tightness,

And now inviting awareness inside the whole upper back.

Back of the ribs,

The back of the lungs,

The shoulder blades,

The whole spine.

Allowing breathing to express itself fully in this area.

There's as much happening in the upper back as there is in the chest.

Certainly we're not very aware of this,

But back breathing is naturally calming and soothing.

Now broadening to be aware of the whole back of the body.

The whole back being cradled and rocked by breathing,

Soothed by breathing.

And now coming through to the chest.

And now coming through to the chest area,

The front of the body.

Movements of breathing in the ribs and the lungs,

The sternum rising and falling.

Feeling breathing inside the chest and on the surface of the chest.

And now broadening to be aware of the whole back of the body.

Now broadening to be aware of the whole torso.

Noticing the way the whole volume of the torso expands on the in-breath in all directions,

Subsides on the out-breath in all directions.

Seeing if you can allow breathing to flow inside the whole torso.

And if your mind keeps wandering off,

And the practice is to keep catching it,

To notice this and then simply invite it back inside breathing in the body.

Maybe you have to do this a hundred times,

That's fine,

That is the training.

Using body awareness as an anchor for the mind,

Again and again.

Allowing awareness to pour into the shoulders on either side.

And allowing awareness to pour into the shoulders on either side.

Maybe feeling breathing inside the shoulders.

And then allowing awareness to pour down the arms,

The upper arms,

Feeling sensations in the upper arms,

The elbows,

The lower arms,

The wrists,

The hands,

The fingers,

Both arms all together.

How's breathing showing up in the arms?

Maybe there's a very subtle sense of broadening on the in-breath,

Subsiding on the out-breath inside the arms.

It's like there's a big movement in the torso and it's spilling,

Echoing down through the arms.

Coming back up through the arms,

Through the shoulders,

The collarbones and up into the neck,

The back,

The front,

The sides of the neck.

Base of the skull,

Head,

We're lying down checking that we're giving the weight of the head up fully,

To the cushion,

The pillow.

If we're upright checking alignment of the head.

That it's not tipping backwards or forwards or side to side but it's poised on top of the neck.

Allowing awareness to pour into the whole face,

Forehead,

Eyes,

Cheeks,

Lips,

Jaw,

Tongue.

Allowing the area at the base of the tongue,

The back of the mouth to be soft so the air can flow freely down through the body to come to rest in the hips.

Can we feel breathing inside the hips at all?

And then allowing our awareness to pour down into the legs,

The thighs,

Back,

Front sides,

Inside,

Surface,

The knees.

The lower legs.

The ankles.

The soles of the feet and the top of the feet and the tentacles.

Is breathing showing up at all inside the legs?

And now broadening awareness to be aware of the whole body.

Legs,

Torso,

Arms,

Neck,

Head,

The whole body being breathed.

Allowing the whole body to broaden a little bit in all directions on the in-breath and subside a little bit in all directions on the out-breath.

360 degree breathing.

Effortless,

Not doing anything,

The body knows how to breathe but we're resting our awareness right inside this fully embodied experience of breathing as an anchor for the mind.

Down through the body.

Coming back inside breathing again and again every time you notice that we've General Ch имvais And as we begin to bring the practice to a close,

We can move the body a little bit,

Perhaps stretch,

Seeing if we can keep breathing soft,

Open,

Responsive.

And as we come into bigger movements,

Being careful how we move,

Being careful not to strain the body,

And forming an intention to take this quality of embodied awareness with us as we engage with the rest of the day.

Every time we notice the mind is running away with itself,

Catching it and bringing it to rest back inside present moment body awareness,

Again and again,

Bringing it home again and again.

And I hope you have a great day.

Reviews

Great meditation, really practical and helpful 👍

Voice, rhythm and guidance were ideal for finding a meditative state. This is now bookmarked. Thank you.

A great practice of awareness. Thank you! Namaste
🌺🙏🌺

Very thorough body scan. The best one I have used. Very calm voice. I appreciate taking me through all of the body parts, including those that others seem too uncomfortable to mention. So they skip some important areas. You are the best.

This was really good training for mindfulness, guided by the breath. Thank you for your lovely, calming voice and meditation.

Thank you so much Vidyamala💖🪷💕🌈

Very nice, your voice transport me to my happy place quiet still tranquil. Thank you.

Marvellous…and useful for everyday life…ThankyouandBless 🧸❤️🙂🐝

Thank you 🙏🏻 your voice, your calmness, body awareness - perfect for me today ☀️

Thank you for this lovely body breathing practice. I’m feeling a sense of calm 💕

Thank you, grateful for this embodiment guidance and practice. Sending good wishes. 🌻

Goes nicely with book I am reading now, Willa Blythe Baker, The Wakeful Body

This practice is very helpful. By anchoring awareness in the body with the breath, the mind loses its crazy energy.

Thank you. Your voice is very calming and soothing. I was able to connect to the breath and guidance within this meditation. I loved when you said something like .. bringing the brain back to the breath. Beautiful 💙🙏🏾

A perfect way to start my morning. Love to you Vidyamala 💗

I found I could real get into the breathing into my body and it felt so good to be out of my mind thank you🙏

Restful and spacious. A deep experience of being immersed in the embodiment of both breath and body sensations. Thank you Vidyamala and all at Breathworks 💗

A great way to settle and bring awareness into the start of my day. Thank you

So very relaxing, allowing me to center on breath and body. A very quick 20 minutes. Many thanks to you 🙏🏼🕊😊 🌺

Amazing 😊 thank you! 🙏✨✨✨