My name is Dr.
Christiane Wolf,
And this is a 20-minute guided mindfulness of breathing meditation.
So starting by finding a comfortable posture,
Either sitting or lying down.
When you're sitting just making sure that your feet are on the floor and your back is upright as much as possible in this moment.
And if it is comfortable just gently closing your eyes.
And starting by bringing your awareness to your breath and making the next two or three breaths a little bit deeper.
So you can really feel the sensations of breathing.
And notice where you feel them the most or where they are the most pleasant.
Maybe at your nostrils,
Your throat,
Your chest,
Your belly.
And then choosing that area as the anchor for your attention.
So this is where you bring the attention back to over and over whenever the mind wanders off.
So now just letting go of manipulating the breath and just letting the breath breathe itself.
Doesn't have to be long or deep.
Your body knows how to breathe.
And so the instructions here are very simple.
Staying with that area of your breath.
And if you notice that your mind has wandered off you just bring it back.
Gently and without judging.
There's nothing wrong with the mind wandering.
This is just what the mind does.
We like to say the brain produces thoughts like the mouth produces saliva.
So nothing we need to take personally here.
So with a lot of patience we're coming back to this moment,
This breath over and over and over.
So if that image works for you,
You can picturing your mind as a puppy,
A young puppy that you're training.
So the puppy will be running off over and over and your job is to bring it back with a lot of patience and understanding that this is what puppies do.
And over time the puppy or the mind here will understand.
And returning to this moment.
So and you can also use what we call labeling.
So whenever you notice that your attention is somewhere else,
You can make a very light mental note about where the attention went,
Like planning,
Planning,
Worry,
Worry,
Itching,
Itching,
And then returning.
And where's the mind now?
And returning to this moment.
And it doesn't matter at all where the attention goes.
We become aware,
Maybe label it,
And then returning to the breath again and again.
This is simple but not easy.
You you you you you you you you So this is where you bring the attention back to over and over,
Whenever the mind wanders off.
You you you you you you you you you you and returning to this moment.
You you And where's the mind now?
You you Just this moment.
You