You are Simply Breathing

This practice is helpful if you are feeling overwhelmed and want to return to something simple. As babies we experience our breath as an all-encompassing event. When we are relaxed, our breath animates our whole body. During the practice, you follow basic breath awareness cues to encourage relaxation in your body and to inspire greater mental clarity. You may be seated or reclining for the practice. Support your spine, if necessary, to ensure that it remains relaxed and long throughout the practice. The practice concludes with a chime.

Transcript

Namaste.

Let your body begin to arrive to your practice.

You can help it to do so with a few easy breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.

As your lips part and your teeth part,

You can begin to relax the muscles around your jaw,

Eventually letting your breath return to in through your nose and out through your nose.

The premise of your practice is that you can enjoy simplicity.

You can once again become a body breathing.

Draw your awareness down now into your body by shifting your gaze towards your body,

Whether your eyes stay open or closed.

Let this natural shift of your gaze turn your awareness to what you can feel in your torso,

In your belly,

Your ribs,

And the area of your chest.

Direct your awareness now into your belly.

You can think of your belly as having more than a front.

It also has sides and a back.

So for the next few breaths,

Feel the area around your belly,

Front,

Sides,

And back,

And if it has any response to your breathing.

Your awareness might shift now,

Drawing it up into your ribs,

The area on the front,

Behind,

And on the sides.

And now finally,

Direct your awareness up a little higher,

The area around your chest.

You can think of your chest as including your shoulder blades on your back and the sides of your armpits,

So you feel the full circumference to your chest area.

Bring your awareness here for your next few breaths.

Now let that practice go,

And on your next inhale,

Follow your breath as it moves through your body.

There's a beginning and an end to your breath,

And at the same time,

There's no hard stops to your breath.

And so you watch this natural flow almost as if you were sitting on the side of a stream.

There's no jumping into the stream to adjust the flow of the water.

They're simply sitting in the water.

Your body has immense intelligence written into its code.

In these moments,

You can trust that intelligence,

Lean into it,

Listen to it,

Hear it.

Know that as you become a body breathing again,

That you will have moments where your mind fights this,

Breaking in to disrupt the simplicity with a thought or a strong memory.

Trust that this is part of your process now,

The ability to see your thoughts and your memories,

Your mind,

And at the same time,

To feel your body breathing.

As we take the next few moments in silence,

You can bring awareness to any aspect of your breathing that inspires you or that interests you in the least bit.

Hmmm.

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?

?

?

?

This breath is always with you,

No matter where you go today,

No matter who you encounter,

No matter what gets done,

And what is left undone.

Underneath it all,

This current goes with you.

Reviews

Hannah meditations are always so peaceful and easy to stay with, thank you Hannah.

Beautifully simple with helpful, gentle guidance- thank you!

Beautiful in its peaceful and gentle simplicity. 🙏

Short, simple and effective. Just what I needed today.

Very quiet, smoothfull , with stillness and spoken with deep love! Thanks 🙏💖

Clarity of message and vocal tone are just beautiful, thank you 🌷☮️💐

Great meditation! Guidance was great, really helped me be mindful of the breathe 🙏❤

Such an intelligently crafted and beautifully delivered meditation practice. Also the audio clarity and pace are perfect. 🔆

Amazing. Nearly perfect in its simplicity. Thank you

You make a simple breathing meditation seem brand new. Thank you.

Beautiful and very calming. Thank you for the wise guidance.

Simple
No daft music or nature noises
No husky breathless atmospheric monologue.

Perfect
Thanks

What a beautiful meditation. I am definently bookmarking this to come back to later. Thank you!

Simply a body breathing .... such a great visual concept! Thank you for including moments of quiet during the session.

Such a sweet and peaceful practice, inviting curiosity, the best way to learn! As always, thank you so much, Hannah 🙏🏽🌟

All about the breath, and nothing more than the breath. I like this one. Thank you Hannah ✌🏻Namaste 🙏❤️

Best, love the quiet pauses. Very deep meditation. Thank you.

Great relaxing meditation, highly recommended!!

Thank you for your calm, gentle instructions Hannah.