Awareness Of Breath Meditation

This short Awareness of Breath Meditation is used as part of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) curriculum to teach the use of breath as the anchor of awareness and present moment sensing. When we feel the breath, we feel the essence of being alive. It is useful for everyday presence, focus and stress management, and developing the awareness of the transient nature of thoughts. This is a foundational practice for developing the "muscle" of mindfulness.

Transcript

This is the awareness of breath meditation.

Taking your seat and being deliberate about your posture,

Noticing your feet on the ground,

Your hands placed in your lap or on your thighs,

Your back alert and yet comfortable.

Closing your eyes if that's available to you or keeping your eyes open and looking ahead of you,

The soft gaze.

Becoming aware of your breath.

Inhale through your nostrils,

Feeling your chest expand with the breath,

Your belly changing shape.

Gentle pause before the exhale,

Again through your nostrils.

Now without needing to change your breath in any way,

Just following the path of the inhale and the exhale.

Some point you may become aware that your mind has wandered to thoughts,

Perhaps an emotion arises.

You become aware of a sound around you and that's part of the practice.

Just noticing where we might have wandered off and then gathering our awareness back to this inhale,

This exhale.

Breathing in,

I'm aware that I'm breathing in.

Breathing out,

I'm aware that I'm breathing out.

And continuing to guide yourself in the moments of extended silence.

Each time you're aware that your mind is elsewhere,

Bringing your presence back again to this in-breath and this out-breath.

And as many times as we notice our attention is elsewhere,

Away from the breath,

That many times we gather our presence back again to this in-breath,

This out-breath.

Arriving in this moment with this breath and leaving in this breath.

Notice the sensation of breath in this body or else to be,

But just here with this breath,

This beautiful life-giving breath.

So as we come to the close of this practice,

You might want to rub your hands across your legs,

Wriggle your toes,

Stretch your neck.

If your eyes are closed,

Then open them,

Taking in the room around you and thanking yourself for setting aside the time for this practice.

Reviews

Thank you! This was just what I needed this morning

Liza has a peaceful and melodic voice which really supports the energy of this breathing meditation