BELL Mindfulness of breathing.
Just as the body settles into stillness in our seated position,
Allowing the mind also to settle into stillness.
Really letting the mind know there's nothing else I need to be doing,
Nowhere else I need to be.
Seeing if we can allow the mind to come to a state of rest.
And once again just allowing the awareness to arrive into our present moment environment.
Here in this room,
With these sounds,
With this quality of light,
With these sensations in the body.
I'm here,
And I really know that I'm here.
And then drawing the awareness inward from external environment to internal environment.
Just allowing the awareness to tune into the sensation of breathing.
Feeling for the rise and fall in the chest.
Subtle movements in the belly.
And just as we bring awareness to sound,
Seeing if we can bring a real listening presence to our breathing.
What does my breathing feel like?
So we're not trying to control the breathing,
To correct the breathing.
I'm just becoming aware of the sensation of our breath in this particular day,
This particular time.
How does my breathing feel?
Maybe just becoming aware of whether the breathing feels shallow or feels deep.
Whether the breathing is quicker or slower.
Whether there's a fluttery quality to the breath or whether it feels smooth.
And just seeing if you can let the awareness climb into the cycle of the breath.
Air moves into the body.
Oxygen enters every cell of the body.
And airs breathe out.
And then we could lean in a little closer with our awareness.
So really just seeing if we can notice where the air first makes contact with the body as we breathe in.
That slight sensation of coolness at the nostrils,
At the lips.
And then really feeling for the sensation,
What does an in-breath feel like?
We could notice that tiny pause at the ending of an in-breath and the beginning of an out-breath.
And then allow our awareness to follow the full length of an exhalation right to the very end of an out-breath.
So seeing if we can just allow the awareness to stay with the sensation of breathing.
Breathing in,
Really aware of the sensations of breathing in.
And breathing out,
Really enjoying the sensation of release in an out-breath.
Maybe for the next minute or so,
The mind can rest into the simplicity and gentleness of just breathing.
Thank you.
And if we notice our mind wandering away into distraction,
Into thinking,
This is not an error of practice.
The nature of the mind is to produce thoughts.
We can simply recognize that in this moment thinking has arisen.
Our mindfulness recognizes thinking is there.
And then see if we can just unhook the awareness from the tug of thinking.
We're not drawn into the storylines of thought,
But very gently guide the awareness back to the sensation of the breath.
Thank you.
So we're going to see if we can bring the awareness to the sensation of breathing for about five minutes.
And if it's useful,
You might want to use the method of counting the breath.
So breathing in,
Breathing out,
We can make a count of one.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
A count of two.
And we just keep counting in this way until we reach a count of ten.
And then we can return again back to a count of one.
And if ever we notice the mind wandering away into distraction or thinking,
And we just notice there's thinking,
And then guide the awareness back to the breath,
Beginning again with a count of one.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So breathing with counting feels too structured,
Too busy.
We can let go of counting.
The mind feels very distracted.
We can use the technique of touch and go breathing.
So here as we breathe in,
The awareness just touches on to the in-breath,
Light as a feather.
There's the in-breath.
And then we can really bring a quality of release to the out-breath,
Really letting go into the exhalation and softening through the whole body.
Breathing out,
Muscles of the face breathe out.
Breathing out,
And the shoulders breathe out,
The chest,
The stomach,
The muscles of the arms and legs.
We can take a couple of minutes just to breathe in this way.
Breathing in,
I am aware I'm breathing in.
I'm breathing out to allow a whole quality of release through the whole body on the out-breath.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And then just allowing the focus of awareness to soften and expand out into our whole environment.
So we're aware of being here in this place,
Receptive to all the sounds,
The changes in the quality of light,
The sensations of just sitting here.
And just seeing if we can have a sense of this breathing body breathing into this environment.
Nothing to do,
Nowhere to go,
Just being here and enjoying breathing.
Thank you.
Thank you.
