We Begin With Breath

In this 5-minute beginner practice, we use the power of the breath to bring our awareness within. By this meditation's conclusion, you will feel relaxed and centered, and will have a better understanding of breath-focused meditation. This meditation is perfect to calm down after a long workday.

Transcript

Begin by noticing the breath.

Allow the breath to move naturally in and out through the nose.

Notice,

Become aware.

Can you feel the air on the rim of your nostrils?

Perhaps on the tip of your nose.

Does the air travel more freely through one nostril than the other?

Maybe you can even feel the air moving against the back of your throat.

Does your diaphragm move with your breath or is it frozen?

Simply take note,

Take inventory of where you are within your own body and how the animating force of breath or prana moves through you.

We use the breath as a tool to come back into the self.

All day our awareness is turned externally to tasks,

To obligations,

To things that we need to accomplish.

Here,

We return our awareness inward to the self.

In the realm of the self is where we find not achievement but fulfillment.

Where is your breath?

As you continue to breathe in and out through the nose,

Maybe you begin to notice a shift in the way you are feeling.

Maybe you feel heavy,

Maybe you feel light,

Maybe you feel relaxed,

Or maybe you feel uncomfortable.

If you are feeling the ladder,

Maybe like you want to fidget,

Return your awareness to the breath through the whole cycle.

Your focus is there from the moment the first hint of an inhale hits your nose,

Travels through your sinus cavity,

Filling your chest or your belly,

And then it pauses,

Suspended for just a moment,

And then the breath exits the body slowly,

Gently.

As you reach the end of your exhale,

The breath slows gradually.

Again,

The breath is suspended for a moment before re-entering the body in the same steady cycle,

In the same steady rhythm.

Often in life,

We lose sense of a rhythm.

We seem to be bouncing from thing to thing with little guidance or reason.

Even when we feel that way,

The mechanism of the breath is still functioning.

It is always available to help us find equilibrium.

Continue to focus on your breath for as long as feels right.

And when you're ready,

Softly flutter your eyes open and observe the space that you're in.