Hello and welcome.
My name is Claudia Fountain and today I'm going to be talking about the enlightened power of breath.
As infants we experienced full body breathing.
Breathing fully from our bellies using the diaphragm.
We lived everything fully.
Laughing,
Crying,
Tasting,
Moving.
But as we grow up we become engrossed by the stories in our head.
In the artifice of thought.
And it's that busyness of the mind that often leads to the shortening of our breath and tightening of the chest.
We live in the storybook of our minds closed off from the fullness of experience.
The Buddha taught mindfulness of breathing as a complete approach to awakening.
In essence everything is contained in the breath.
Breath is movement and movement is change.
Change is the truth of our existence.
It's unavoidable and inevitable.
We may hold on to beliefs or expectations or judgments but we can't hold on to the breath.
Eventually we have to let it go.
The breath is the manifestation of the present moment.
And the exhalation can teach us directly how to relax and let go into that present moment.
I love this quote from Karen Mazin Miller,
A Zen teacher and author.
Everything remains the most profound dharma.
Every thought,
Every action and every moment comes out of it.
In other words everything begins with the breath and ends with the breath.
So let's begin our meditation.
Please find yourself sitting in a comfortable position.
This could be on a cushion on the floor,
In a chair or even sitting up in bed.
The idea is to be sitting fully upright with the spine supported in neutral in whatever way works for you.
And then closing our eyes,
Exhale the breath you're currently on and let's drop in.
Bringing your attention to where your body is making contact with whatever you are sitting on,
Noticing weight,
Pressure,
Contact,
Heaviness or firmness or softness.
Rest your attention on these sensations.
Now we'll move into a simple body scan.
This helps to fully ground our attention and becoming aware of your feet,
Noticing where they're making contact with the floor or anything else.
Anything warmth or coolness,
Pressure,
Weight or no weight,
Tingling,
Vibration,
Pulsation,
Anything is possible.
Becoming aware of your legs,
Noticing the length of the shin bones,
The bend of the knees,
Your upper legs,
Your thighs.
Becoming aware of your sit bones and the weight there,
The hips and the lower abdomen.
Becoming aware of your low back,
Your mid back and upper back,
The space between your shoulder blades,
The tops of your shoulders,
Your arms,
On your hands,
Wherever they're resting in your lap or on your legs.
Becoming aware of your neck,
The back of the neck,
Sides of the neck,
Your throat.
Be aware of any sensations at the back of your head,
Top of your head,
Your forehead.
Seeing your eyes floating in their sockets,
The ears,
Your jaw,
Allowing all sensations.
Open and relax any holding or gripping.
Now becoming aware of your body breathing,
Noticing the sensations of air around the nostrils,
At the back of your throat,
Aware of movement at the top of your chest,
Through the rib cage,
And all the way down into your belly.
Aware of the movement of breath,
A soft rising and falling,
The body expanding on the inhale and dropping on the exhale.
Begin to observe these sensations.
Now we will begin to count the breath using this count to anchor our awareness.
Repeating silently to yourself,
As you inhale,
Breathing in one,
As you exhale,
Breathing out one,
Breathing in two,
Breathing out two,
And continuing counting up to 10 breaths,
And then begin again at one.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Realizing there will be moments.
When you lose the count and become lost in thoughts.
Gently return your tension back to the breath and the count starting at one once again.
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Realizing that losing count is normal and gently returning back again.
Breathing in one.
Breathing out one.
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Breathing in one.
Breathing out one.
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