Everyday Mindfulness Practice: #1 Follow the Breath

Everyday Mindfulness is based on Bruce Wayne McLellan’s 50+ years’ experience as a meditation practitioners and teacher. Taking the best practice from Transcendental Meditation, Zen and Tibetan Buddhist meditation, and Christian Centering Bruce created a simple and easy-to-use Six-Step format called Everyday Mindfulness. The steps include 1) Posture 2) Present 3) Breath 4) Focus 5) Silence and 6) Return. One of the main benefits of this format is providing the practitioner with the freedom to create a meditation practice that aligns with an individual’s beliefs, culture, and personality. It is Bruce’s intention to provide numerous examples that use this format as a model for individualizing practice. (Soundtrack - ©2020 Just a Moment (164) by Deana Gurney) All Rights Reserved Bruce Wayne McLellan 2023 #EverdayMindfulness #Meditation #Mindfulness #Creative

Transcript

Let's take a moment to get centered.

We'll begin by glancing around the room to notice where we are in the world.

It should be a quiet,

Safe place where we will not be disturbed.

Close our eyes,

Bodies,

Particularly the force of gravity,

Mother Earth tugging on us.

Go into a low posture with that force.

Begin by placing our feet nice and flat on the floor,

Hands in a lapse with the palms facing upward.

Now we'll sit nice and tall.

It should feel as though it's being suspended from above.

Allow our hips to settle into the chair while we stretch our heart right up to heaven.

Now dropping the shoulders,

Softening the jaw,

And closing the eyes.

Allow me to invite you into the present moment with three deeply satisfying breaths.

Together.

Welcome to the present moment.

Here is the only moment that we truly have.

So we'll leave the past behind us,

Knowing it's nothing more than a memory,

And we'll let the future take care of itself.

Knowing that that's just our imagination,

We'll anchor ourselves in this present moment with our mindful breath by steadying and slowing the breath.

We'll begin that mindful breath by gently breathing in through the nose,

Then pausing for about three or four seconds,

Releasing through the lips,

And pausing once again.

We'll continue this cycle of mindful breathing throughout today's meditation.

We'll continue that mindful breath,

And we're going to add a focal point.

Today's focal point will be following the breath.

We follow the breath by either focusing intensely on the sound of our breathing,

Or focusing on the rising and falling of our chest.

Let's synchronize that focus of following the breath.

With the mindful breath.

Now,

We release everything.

We let go of the mindful breath and just breathe normally.

We'll let go of our focal point and just set our mind adrift.

And we'll let go of any thoughts,

Feelings,

Or pictures in our mind,

So that we may join together in the stillness and merge into the silence.

Into the silence.

And when you are ready,

We'll take a nice deep breath and slowly open your eyes.

Reviews

Perfect start to the day.

Thank you!