Breath And Body

An easy mindfulness practice where we explore the breath and various sensations in the body. What does it feel like to actually experience sensations? How can we bring the smallest amount of effort when practicing?

Transcript

We'll begin by closing the eyes,

Finding a restful place for the hands that keeps the chest open and relaxed.

It could be hands on the knees or thighs,

Fold it in your lap,

Whatever works.

If it's available to you,

Having your feet flat on the floor,

Sensing into that connection with the ground,

Sense of stability,

Noticing your posture.

We want to be finding a balance between super straight and upright and totally slouched.

So we want to be gently straight without straining the back.

I like to rock a little bit left to right,

Front to back,

And just kind of notice where that equilibrium is in the middle so that I'm not leaning too far back or forward or to either side.

Almost as if a string started at the base of your spine,

Going up through the spine,

Through the head and the skull,

Gently just holding everything in this aligned posture,

Beginning to take some deep breaths in through the nose,

Out through the mouth,

Noticing the gentle expansion of the vertebrae on the in-breath,

The relaxation of the vertebrae on the out-breath,

Noticing as many sensations as we can on each in-breath.

Cool air coming in through the nose,

Expansion of the lungs,

Rising and falling of the chest,

Rising and falling of the belly,

Sensing into these sensations of breath,

Receiving them the way you receive the taste of a delicious meal,

The taste of a delicious meal,

Uplifting energy on each in-breath,

Relaxing energy on each out-breath,

Just resting in the intention to do nothing except observe what's arising.

You don't have to force anything in our meditation practice.

The body knows how to breathe.

The body knows how to relax.

And we can observe all of this happening.

And whether we're just beginning our meditation journey and whether we're just beginning our meditation journey or we're experienced practitioners,

We're still doing the exact same thing.

Noticing that no matter how much we intend to just breathe and not get lost in thought,

The thinking is inevitable.

We may get one or two or three breaths in and then some thought about the past or the future or a thinking spiral about some present moment experience will take over.

And it's in that moment where we apply just the tiniest amount of effort to notice thinking and begin again with the next breath.

Some days we might not even make it through an entire breath before the thinking interrupts or hijacks the flow.

And that's okay.

Whatever is happening in your practice right now,

I would encourage you to let go of any thought of it being good or bad.

This is simply the unique flavor of today's meditation.

For these next few breaths,

Really pour your attention over the bodily experience.

Like pouring syrup on pancakes,

Just cover and saturate experience in your attention.

Notice how different paying attention to the body feels than our normal trance of thinking and doing.

When I invite you to feel the whole body breathing,

What happens?

Can you feel the whole body as a unified field?

Let go of the notion of different body parts.

Feeling the whole body breathing in sort of one flash.

What is it like to feel the shoulders breathing in and out?

When we rest the mind and cultivate concentration,

What minute experiences are available to us?

The shoulders breathing in and out.

I notice a slight rising on the inhale,

Slight fall on the exhale.

Notice the shoulders breathing in and out.

Slight fall on the exhale.

Notice how my shoulders connect to the neck,

Connect to the upper arms.

Is there such a thing as a shoulder?

Is it all connected?

What does it feel like to breathe in and out of the feet?

Perhaps resting the attention on the feet while we breathe in and out gives new texture,

Quality to the connection with the earth.

Feeling of rootedness.

Feeling of connection.

Feeling of stability.

Exploring the body,

We may come into contact with places that feel tense,

Painful,

Uncomfortable,

Or even more neutral places that seem devoid of sensation.

Scanning the body up and down,

Find a place that's mildly uncomfortable.

Maybe not the most uncomfortable,

But something mild.

Give yourself five deep cleansing breaths into that space.

No expectation of it changing,

But just see what happens.

Breathing in through the nose,

Accentuating the pause at the top of the breath.

Sighing out,

Accentuating the pause at the bottom.

Carrying that cadence forward in your own rhythm,

Breathing into the uncomfortable place or the neutral place.

Letting go of stories about why that sensation may be happening.

And coming back to the breath.

Knowing that we cannot force the body to relax,

But we can allow relaxation to happen in any way that it needs to happen.

Moving on from the uncomfortable place,

Finding a place that feels restful and at ease.

Maybe that's the rising and the falling of the belly,

The sensations of the hands resting,

But find a place that feels comfortable.

And sense into what accompanies that feeling.

And sense into what a comfortable spot feels like.

Breathing in and breathing out.

What's the temperature like in that spot?

What's the color palette of that comfort?

And as we breathe in,

Can we allow that sensation to spread to the adjoining areas of the body?

Spreading further and further with each new in-breath and out-breath.

Letting any concerns for the morning before us,

For the day ahead of us,

Melt away.

Any self-judgment or judgment of the practice melt away.

In the last minute or so,

Extending some gratitude to ourselves for showing up in this way,

Regardless of how long it's been since the last time we gave ourselves a break.

Letting this be a good thing in its own right.

Setting the intention to carry the burden of the day ahead of us.

Setting the intention to carry any inner peace that we've cultivated during this time into our interactions for the rest of the day.

Taking these last few moments to let go of any and all effort.

Noticing if there's anything that's bothering you.

Noticing if there's any change.

The qualities of mind,

Body,

And spirit from before and after this sit.

Just sense into those changes,

Without the need to label them.

When you're ready,

Keeping the eyes closed,

Slowly begin to reintroduce some gentle movement.

Sensing into the sounds and the air in your environment.

And when you're ready,

Opening your eyes and ending the meditation.

Thank you for your practice.

Thank you.