Mindfulness Of Breath And Body

I don’t think I’ve shared this with many of you, but I am in a mindfulness teacher certification program. This month’s teachings were about mindfulness of the body and breath, so I offer this meditation to you in that spirit. I hope you feel deep relaxation and ease. Be well, my friends.

P.S. I did not take this photo, but I got to spend a few glorious hours deep in the forest this week, and I was in heaven. I hope this photo inspires you to get outside.

Transcript

Let's go ahead and just get into a comfortable posture for meditation. So you could be lying down, You could be walking, You could be standing or seated on your cushion. I just want to make sure that your back is upright and that your spine is straight and that you're able to be alert yet relaxed. I like to close my eyes so feel free to do that. And let's just start with three deep breaths, Breathing in through our mouth, Sorry in through our nose and out through our mouth. So I just invite you to notice the sensation of your breath wherever you notice it. So it might not be an obvious place, So just spend a few moments and feel how it feels to breathe. Once you find a place in your body where you can rest in that sensation of breathing, Just for today, Designate that as your home base, Your anchor. It's just the place you're going to return to time and time again when your mind drifts. When your mind drifts, Just decide on that home base and it should just be some place where you can touch into that sensation of breath, That sensation of being breathed. And just the practice of meditation or mindfulness is gently coming back to that anchor or that home base when your mind wanders, Which it will. So the practice here is not in being perfect, But in the remembering to come home. So if you're experiencing any mental formations, Any judgments, Problem solving, Or futuring, Just simply come back to the breath and the actual sensation, The feelings in your body of breathing. We're going to broaden our awareness now out to the rest of the body. So you might want to just gently roll your head from side to side or roll your shoulders. We're just bringing our awareness into the body. I invite you to do a quick body scan on the top of your head, Down to your toes, Or just any areas of tension, Pain, Starting at the top of the head, Your face, Muscles behind your eyes, And your jaw. Just gently intend. There's no effort in here. Just bring your attention and your intention to your face. Just allow a little bit more relaxation and down into your neck, Your shoulders, And just gently bringing awareness to this part of your body. I'm going to see any body sensations intending to relax and release. Down into your chest and your torso, Your tender heart, High back, Your mid back. You're just saying hello to these body parts, Checking in, Just bringing loving and gentle awareness. And down into your diaphragm, Your stomach, Your low back, Your belly. So much tension in our low, In our belly, Just allowing the breath. Push out the belly. Down into our groin and our pelvis and our buttocks, Just feeling the weight of gravity on our lower body. That familiar stabilizing tug of the Earth's gravitational force. Just resting in that knowing that we're held. Gently bring your awareness to your thighs and your knees and your lower legs, Your feet. Just ground off anything that's not serving you today. Let gravity pull out any tension, Any mental formations, Anything that's not in your highest good to hold on to, Anything that doesn't serve your spirit, Your body today. Let's gently move our awareness back to our home base, The sensation of the breath, Wherever that's easiest for you to feel. There's lots of different places in the body where the breath expresses itself. So let's go back to your place that you chose at the beginning of this meditation. And we're going to rest here quietly for two full minutes. Thank you for practicing with me today. Namaste.