Sitting Meditation - Mindfulness Of Breath (MBSR)

This is a guided sitting meditation practice from the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course. The primary focus is awareness of breath, followed by an awareness of physical sensations. Its aim is for you to develop more mindful awareness, to connect to your breath so that it can serve as your anchor, and to get you out of the doing mode into the being mode.
This track contains ambient sounds in the background

Transcript

This according guides you through a sitting meditation with breath as the primary object of awareness.

Arranging to spend this time in a comfortable but attentive posture,

Preferably sitting up without leaning back for support if that's possible for you,

And at a time and in a place where you won't be disturbed.

Sitting in a dignified posture,

Head balanced on shoulders,

Arms and hands resting in a comfortable position.

This is a time for allowing ourselves to switch from our normal mode of doing and moving and reacting to one of simply being.

Just being attentive to what's happening within your own awareness right here and right now.

And as you sit,

Just noticing sensations of breath.

Just noticing how your abdomen moves on each in-breath and out-breath.

The movement of air through the nostrils,

A slight movement of chest and shoulders.

Just bringing your awareness to whichever part of your breath cycle and wherever it is in the most vivid,

Whether it be your tummy,

Your chest or your shoulders,

Or the movement of air through your nostrils.

Understanding the entire cycle of breath from the movement of the air coming in and filling the lungs and extending the abdomen slightly.

The movement of air going out and being aware of the pause,

The stopping point in between the in-breath and the out-breath,

And the out-breath and the next in-breath.

It's all one movement,

Even though the changing of directions.

Just notice where the pause is,

Seeing to what degree you can be aware of your whole entire cycle,

Recognizing that each part of the cycle is different from the other part,

And that this time through may be different than the last time through,

And each one is absolutely unique in its own way if you pay attention.

You'll notice your attention from time to time shifting away from your breath.

So the mind may wander into fantasies or memories,

Thoughts of the day,

Worries that you might have,

Things you need to do,

And without giving yourself a hard time when you notice that that's happened,

Gently,

Firmly,

And friendly,

Bring your awareness back to the sensations of breathing,

The actual physical sensations of breath as it moves through your body.

Being aware of where the mind goes,

Gently shifting your awareness to sensations of breath,

And notice the tendency to want to control your breathing,

Letting the quality of attention be light and easy,

One of simply observing and noticing,

Just as if you were on a float on a gently undulating sea,

Where you're up with one wave and down with the next.

You don't control the duration of the wave or the depth between the waves.

You're just riding.

And just gently coming back to sensations of breathing.

You may notice that there are sounds in addition to the sounds that come from this recording,

Sounds of traffic or movement or something else going on.

And just noticing that your attention has moved to that perception of sound,

Just staying with it long enough to notice the quality of the sound.

Sound is vibration,

Tone,

Volume,

Or intensity.

Being aware of the mind to label sound as traffic or as voices or as music.

Coming closer to the actual experience of the sound as it hits your eardrums,

Qualities or pitch or rhythm or intensity,

Separating out the actual reception of sound from the labels we put on it.

And if you've been paying attention to sound or noticing that you've gotten off to noticing the perceptions of sound,

Bring your attention once again back to breath.

Letting your breath be your anchor of awareness so that each time your awareness goes somewhere else,

Just gently coming back to breath without judgment,

Just with a friendly voice bringing it back.

So if you see that your attention has gone somewhere else,

Just coming back to breath.

And noticing the tendency to have an opinion about things,

About liking the way things are going right now,

Not liking it,

Finding it uncomfortable,

That too can be an object of awareness.

Just noticing that you have an opinion about things often.

You could say,

That's my liking mind.

It is liking this.

Oh,

That is my critical mind that would rather have things be different than they are.

And that too can be noticed.

Building the capacity to notice liking or disliking and not to have to do anything about it.

How freeing that is.

And as you notice that happening,

Just bringing your awareness to the physical sensations of breath,

Whatever it is most vivid for you,

Just riding the entire cycle,

One cycle after another.

You may notice your attention shifting to body sensations of achiness or discomfort of tension.

And as you notice these sensations of discomfort that happen,

There are several things which can be done with just sensation.

And one is to,

If it's one that can be remedied by shifting a little bit,

To deal with the sensation is to allow yourself to shift.

But in doing that,

First becoming aware of the sensation.

So noticing precisely where the tension or the achiness might be.

And once you're aware of where it is,

Developing an intention to move and moving mindfully and with full intent to make that motion.

So that is one way to deal with strong sensation.

A second way,

And neither one is better than the other,

Is as long as full awareness is brought to all parts,

To notice that sensation and noticing it in its fullness,

Really being curious about the extent of it.

How you experience of it is at the moment,

The actual physical sensations of tension or of throbbing or of tightness or of pulling,

Tingling.

So the second way of dealing with it is just to notice that it's possible to stay for a moment longer with that sensation.

Experienced as pure sensation without labels of discomfort,

Tension,

Achiness,

Just noticing where it is.

What is your experience of it?

And staying with it without having to react to it,

Just for the moment.

If your attention keeps getting called back to that area of intense sensation,

Knowing you have those two choices of forming an attention to do something about it and mindfully doing it but forming intention first or bringing your attention and intention right into it.

Be curious about it.

How big is it?

How long is it?

What quality does it have?

How is it changing over time?

And wherever the mind goes in terms of thoughts to lacking or disliking,

Perceptions or sensation or hearing of sound or feelings of peace or of sadness or frustration and dissipation,

Just noticing these raw thought forms and bringing awareness to sensations,

To the movement of breath.

Bringing curiosity again to your breath and observe that no two breaths are exactly the same.

Now see if you can bring a friendly attitude to whatever comes into your awareness.

How if your mind has gone off on a fantasy or a thought or a judgment,

Worry,

Just in a friendly way notice that this is happening and coming back to your anchor,

Your breath.

So recognizing that the entire cycle of awareness is important to this experience,

Including the movement from breath and including the coming back.

Nothing to do but just to ride the waves of your breath.

Seeing if it's possible in those moments when your awareness is gone somewhere else,

Noticing how that flicker of attention happens,

That moment when you realize it is somewhere else,

Somewhere other than breath.

And at that moment,

Seeing if it's possible of having an attitude of celebration or congratulation,

Of recognition that this is a moment of awareness,

You acknowledge yourself for noticing you've gone somewhere else and just easily bring your attention back to breath,

Again in a friendly and a non-judgmental way.

As this meditation comes to an end,

Recognizing that you spend this time intentionally aware of your moment-to-moment experience,

Nourishing and strengthening your ability to be with whatever comes your way,

Building the capacity for opening the senses to the vividness,

To the aliveness of the present moment,

Expanding your skill to be curious and available about whatever presents itself without judgment.

And when you're ready,

Allowing the eyes to let some light in,

If you've had them closed and permitting yourself to shift or stretch in whatever way feels comfortable,

As this sitting meditation ends.