Effortless Breath Meditation

This gentle meditation will first align your posture, then let the attention gather within the breath, followed by an open, effortless, awareness that watches thoughts, feelings, and sounds appearing on their own. The heart of this practice is in the recognition of all phenomena as happening effortlessly and spontaneously.

Transcript

Start by finding a comfortable position where you can feel your sit bones rooted down either on a mat or chair,

And either your knees or your feet touching the ground.

Lengthening the spine,

The crown of the head reaching up,

Stacking the vertebrae like a tower of cups,

One vertebrae resting on top of the other.

Your shoulders are relaxing away from your ears as the belly softens,

The face releasing any tension,

Drawing a few deep breaths into the belly.

Feeling the belly rise and expand,

Feeling the belly fall,

Repeating this a couple more times,

Deep breath into the belly,

Then letting it go.

Then relinquishing any control over the breath,

Allowing the breath to find its natural equilibrium.

Noticing how the breath moves in and out of the body all on its own.

Just letting the breath happen.

The air coming into the belly,

The belly expands,

Then letting it go,

Watching this rhythm of the breath happening all on its own.

Just staying with this simple act of breathing,

Being okay with just the breath.

If you hear other sounds or your mind drifts to something other than the breath,

Recognizing that this too is happening all on its own.

The sounds you hear,

The feelings you feel,

The thoughts you think,

All of it is simply happening without any effort on your part.

Letting it all just happen.

No reason or need to control this moment.

The breath coming in,

The breath coming out,

The thoughts,

Feelings and sounds simply happening.

No effort necessary.

The breath coming in,

The breath coming out,

The thoughts,

Feelings and sounds simply happening.