The Breath As Your Teacher - 5 Min Daily Insight

I hope you enjoy this short 5 minute meditation to help you connect to your breath as your teacher, acknowledging all of the wisdom it contains. Developing a relationship with your breath is an essential part of a meditation practice - and an essential part of feeling at home within your own being. In this practice, we'll explore the breath by finding balance between doing and being - between effort and ease.

Recorded exclusively for Insight Timer's Daily Insight series.

Transcript

Hello,

And welcome to the daily insight.

My name is Hillary Jackendoff,

And today we will be practicing a short,

5-minute meditation to help you connect to your breath as your teacher,

Acknowledging all of the wisdom it contains.

Let's begin by finding a comfortable position,

Ideally sitting upright in a chair or on the floor.

Let your hands rest comfortably on your knees or in your lap,

And notice if your palms want to face up or down.

Relax the muscles in your face,

Soften the tongue inside the mouth,

Bringing a sense of ease to the jaw.

Let your shoulders soften down away from your ears and tuck your chin ever so slightly to create space in the back of the neck.

Feel into a natural sense of alignment in your spine.

As you continue to settle in,

Notice if you feel ready to turn inwards,

Giving yourself a little time to arrive in the present moment for your practice.

And when you're ready,

Take a full deep breath in through your nose,

Holding the breath inside for a few seconds,

And then gently open your mouth and allow your exhale to escape on its own,

Slowly and smoothly.

Continue breathing like this,

Conscious,

Focused inhale,

Spontaneous,

Effortless exhale.

Let your hands rest comfortably on your knees,

And then slowly open your mouth,

Holding the breath inside for a few seconds,

And then gently open your mouth,

Feeling the breath inside for a few seconds.

With each breath in,

Feel into the experience of doing,

And with each breath out,

Feel into the experience of pure being.

What wisdom is here for you in the relationship between doing and being?

What is your breath showing you?

As you draw breath in through your nose with presence,

Feel that you are deeply receiving,

Intentionally drawing in that which you need.

And as your breath gently,

Effortlessly leaves your body,

Feel into the experience of easily releasing all that does not serve you.

And when you're ready,

Begin to gently expand your inhale and extend your exhale,

Bringing presence to both,

Grounding yourself in your body through your breath,

Feeling back into the sensations in your body,

Drawing awareness outwards,

Aware of your body in the room,

Noticing how you feel,

What you received,

And what you released.

Reviews

Hillary is one of the best guides.

Simplistic, quick and point on for starting a busy day. Thank you. ✨

Loved the breathing prompts

Perfect 🤍🕊

Amazing how quickly 5 minutes goes by!! Nice practice, thanks!

Beautiful and effective 5 minute centering practice! Thank you :)

Simple and powerful