Basic Mindfulness Session

This is a basic mindfulness session I often facilitate at the hospital. It is suitable for beginners to advanced meditators and can assist with relieving feelings of stress and anxiety. This type of breath awareness session can help you find balance and ease in your day.

Transcript

Welcome everyone to our mindfulness session.

So you're sitting upright or lying down.

Your back is straight or you're lying straight on the floor.

Shoulders are straight but not stiff.

Relaxing the shoulders.

Focusing on relaxing your whole body.

Letting the body sink down into the chair or onto the floor.

Gently shutting the eyes or gazing forwards and downwards.

Starting to arrive into the room.

Bringing your awareness to this room,

To this moment.

Starting to notice the space around you.

The noises within and outside of the room.

Noticing the temperature of the air on your skin.

Gently starting to reign in your thoughts.

If you have thoughts in your head or memories,

Just label them thinking.

We'll put them outside the room for now.

We can get them later.

For now we're going to focus on this moment,

On this room.

Letting thoughts of the future or the past go.

Just bringing our awareness to this moment.

Placing your right hand across your stomach.

Take a deep breath in through the nose.

And then give a long breath out through the mouth.

Let's do that again.

Taking a deep breath in through the nose.

And then a long breath out through the mouth.

Breathing deeply.

Feeling the stomach rise and fall with each in-breath and each out-breath.

Now,

Slowing the breath,

I invite you to make the out-breath a little bit longer than the in-breath.

This is action of making the out-breath a little bit longer.

Helps to calm your whole nervous system.

It's quite a simple thing to do any time throughout the day when you need to feel calm.

So let's try that together.

Breathing in through the nose,

Taking a big breath in.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Holding it.

And then a big breath out through the mouth.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

And again,

Big breath in through the nose,

Expanding the chest and the lungs.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Holding it.

And then a big breath out through the mouth,

Letting it all go.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

And continuing to breathe deeply.

Let's just sit like this for a minute with our eyes closed,

Using our breath as our anchor.

In mindfulness,

Our breath is like an anchor to a boat.

By putting our attention on our breathing,

We can become calm and steady,

Just like that boat.

So keep focusing on your breath and focusing on the body and the stomach,

Moving with the breath.

Okay,

Now you can put your arms down to your side now.

And breathing slowly and deeply,

Let's start to listen to the sounds that are around us.

When you stop and breathe slowly,

You can hear all of the sounds surrounding you,

The quiet ones as well as the loud.

So we're listening to all the sounds inside the room and outside the room.

What are the sounds you are hearing?

What is the tone of each sound?

Is it a continuous sound?

Or does it have a beginning and an end?

If your mind begins to wander or you get distracted with thoughts,

This is quite normal.

Just say to yourself,

Thinking,

And then bring yourself back to your listening and breathing.

Now,

Returning your focus to your breath,

Breathing slowly and deeply.

If your attention wanders away,

Your mind gets distracted by thoughts,

It's quite normal and okay.

Simply keep returning your attention back to your breath and back to your awareness of your breathing.

If you have thoughts,

You could try labelling them and giving them a name such as music or work.

And then maybe place that thought into a hot air balloon and then imagine it drifting away from your head into the sky.

And then return your focus to your awareness of your breath.

Focusing on the breath coming in and out of the body.

Focusing on how the body is moving with the breath.

Your chest moving,

Your stomach,

Your shoulders.

Really focusing on how the breath is coming in and out of the body and the sensation of breathing.

So remember,

There is no right or wrong with mindfulness practices.

We are just training our attention and noticing when the thoughts keep returning and taking us out of the present moment.

We just remain curious no matter what you feel or hear and keep bringing your attention back to the breath.

Back to the sensation of breathing.

Focusing on the breath.

And your thoughts keep returning and that's quite normal.

Our mind loves to think.

So just acknowledge the thoughts,

Give them a label such as thinking,

Music,

Work,

Whatever you'd like to label your thoughts.

And maybe again put them in that hot air balloon and let them drift away up to the sky.

And bring your focus back to your awareness of breathing.

Focusing on the sensation of breathing.

Now we're going to shift our attention to the small area of skin between our nostrils.

Putting your full attention on that small area of skin between your nostrils.

Feeling the air on the exhalation on this area.

At first sometimes the breath may be hard to feel.

So if you like you can make a strong exhale so that you can feel the air coming out of the nostrils onto that area of skin.

So once you've found that sensation just relax and breathe normally.

And we're really noticing and focusing on the air coming out of the nostrils onto that little bit of skin between the nostrils.

How does the breath feel coming out of the nostrils?

Is it warm or is it cool?

Is it soft or hard?

Really noticing the quality of your breath.

Noticing the sensation of the breath coming out of the nostrils onto that little bit of skin between the nostrils.

If your mind wanders away,

Which is normal,

Don't judge or get angry.

Just simply gently bring your awareness back to the breath.

Back to the sensation of the air coming out of the nostrils onto that little bit of skin.

Remember if your attention wanders away again it's okay and very normal.

Don't judge or get angry.

Just return your attention to your breath awareness and continue on.

Remember there is no right or wrong with our mindfulness practice.

We are just training our attention and noticing when the mind wanders and bringing it back to our anchor.

Just remain curious no matter what you feel and keep bringing your attention back to your breath.

Back to the air coming out of the nostrils onto that little bit of skin.

We'll continue for one more minute.

Keep focusing on the breath,

Letting the thoughts go and bringing your awareness back to the breath.

Let's continue for 30 more seconds.

When we're finished I'll ring the bell.

Okay everyone,

Let's just start to wiggle our fingers and toes,

Making small movements.

Maybe rotating your hands and your feet.

Having a big stretch.

You might like to rub your palms together until they're warm and put them over your eyes.

Then opening your eyes,

Taking your time to get up and return to your day.

It's my pleasure to guide you today.

Thank you.

Reviews

Thank you. This is what I needed.

Yes just what I wanted. Simple mindfulness meditation. Good guidance. Minimal talking Pleasant British voice.

beautifu calm with mindfulness basics

Thankyou Kerrie-simple and effective, my cat joined me for this one too!

I enjoyed this session a lot. The mind and thoughts feel more released and relaxed now.