Peace And Joy With The Breath

This meditation is adapted from a traditional Buddhist approach for the cultivation of insight, serenity and or one of the four heart qualities: benevolence, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity.

Transcript

Developing joy and peace using mindfulness and concentration on the breath. Listen to these instructions and use them to help develop concentration in order for peace and joy to arise. Find a quiet and peaceful space and loosen up any tight clothing or other constrictions and be as comfortable as possible sitting on a chair or a cushion. Sit erect and ensure that your back, Neck and head is upright and straight in a dignified and relaxed posture. Make the resolve that for the next 20 or so minutes you will endeavor not to fidget or move unnecessarily. Also make the resolve that for the period of this exercise you will put aside hankering after things not here or grief about things done that can't be changed. As much as possible seclude yourself from concerns about the world and future goals or anything other than being here now and bringing your attention to cultivating joy and peace through concentration and mindfulness of breath. Let thoughts and experiences other than the breath and cultivating joy and peace be on the periphery of your awareness and begin by letting the breath be your central focus. Bring attention to your breath and be aware of inhalations and exhalations. When you breathe in know you are breathing in. When you breathe out know you are breathing out. Don't force the breath in any way. Rather let the rhythm of the breath be completely natural. Know and understand that you are breathing. Concentrate upon what you are doing. Sustaining focus with single-minded attention. Experiencing your whole body. Breathing in you are aware. Breathing out you are aware. Be aware of the beginning, Middle and end of each breath. Now, With the in and out breath calm and tranquilise your body. Breathing in relax your body. Breathing out relax your body. Breathing in relaxing know that you are breathing in and relaxing. Breathing out know you are breathing out and relaxing. Breathing in relax tight parts of your body. Breathing out relax tight parts of your body. Breathing in relax your whole body. Breathing out relax the whole of your body. Let go of thoughts about things other than what you are doing right now and let your mind be steadied and quietened, Stilled and concentrated. Find somewhere in your body that feels good as you breathe. It could be the relaxing feelings in your muscles as they relax or it could be a sense of lightness in the whole of your body or it could be a sense of pleasure focusing somewhere in your body such as your belly or it could be a sense of buoyancy around your chest area or the pleasant feelings around your face as it forms a gentle smile. Disregard any discomfort and bring your attention to focus upon the enjoyment in your body. Make the enjoyment your central focus. Immerse yourself in this. Absorb yourself in feeling enjoyment. Breathing in feel pleasure. Breathing out feel pleasure. Breathing in feel enjoyment. Breathing out feel enjoyment. Breathing in experience pleasant sensations. Breathing out experience pleasant sensations. Acknowledge distractions and without struggle bring your single-minded attention back to what you're doing. Focus and become absorbed into the experience. Breathe in feel pleasant feelings. Breathing out feel pleasure. Breathing in feeling pleasant. Breathing out feeling pleasant. Breathing in feeling light enjoyment. Breathing out experiencing light enjoyment. Breathing in feeling the pleasure of relaxation. Breathing out feeling the pleasure of relaxation. Now bring attention to the state of your mind and discover a sense of gladness or joy embedded in the pleasant physical sensations. Let luminous and bright awareness shine. Be wakefully alert and put craving and grasping aside. Also put ill will worries and doubts aside. Focus all your attention on breathing and cultivating joy. Bring all your attention to any sense of gladness no matter how small. Breathing in feel gladness. Breathing out feel gladness. Breathing in feeling glad. Breathing out feeling glad. Nurture the feeling of simple happiness by bringing attention to it and sustaining attention on it. Put aside worries and doubts. Disregard distractions. Let yourself become completely absorbed in this present moment and feeling a simple sense of happiness. Bring your focused attention to this happy mind state by pairing it with tranquility and pleasant feelings in your body. Breathing in feel tranquil and no joy. Breathing out feel tranquil and no joy. Breathing in feel joy. Breathing out feel joy. Now bring attention to any sense of contentment. Put aside the yes-buts. Let the doubts be on the periphery of your awareness. Put them on a shelf and out of view and remember to be here now. Here now nurture contentment with simple presence and the way things are. Be content with simply being present and the way things are. Be happy with simple happiness. And focus and let yourself feel contentment here now. Breathing in be content. Breathing out be content. Breathing in be happy. Breathing out be happy. Bring sustained attention to contentment. Bring sustained attention to happiness. Breathing in say to yourself content. Breathing out say to yourself content. Breathing in be peaceful. Breathing out be peaceful. Let the feelings of peace, Gladness and pleasure or enjoyment suffuse your body. Pervade your sense of being. Just like warm water being soaked up by a sponge. Let it spread. Let it be. Breathing in be peace. Breathing out feel and be peace. Breathing in be peaceful. Breathing out peace. Breathing in experience deep peace. Breathing out experience deep peace. Let the feelings of peace pervade your body and mind. Let them touch upon every part of your body and your life. Breathing in be happy and peaceful. Breathing out be happy and peaceful. In a few minutes we will end this exercise. If you found that this practice has helped you experience some simple peace and joy in this present moment imprinted in your cellular memory and remember what seemed to work for you. Also remember that you can practice this throughout your daily activities by bringing awareness to your breath and with your breath reminding yourself of simple joy and deep peace. If you want to end this exercise now feeling refreshed and revitalized slowly move your fingers and toes. Shift your body and mindfully go about your daily activities remembering peace and joy.

Reviews

This meditation was wonderful! After setting the intention of experiencing peace and joy and bringing attention to my body, my experience became a lot easier. I know so many great things can come from being in the present but at times it can be challenging to focus on an element to be grateful for. The feeling in my body of lightness and warmth was such an easy thing to be grateful for. During my meditation was the first time I ever felt this way, and it brought a smile to my face. Simply enjoying the sensations of peace throughout my body.

Revisiting this today after doing it regularly for years. Such a powerful and brilliant practice. I achieve true peace and joy today

Beautiful words and I loved hearing the birds in the background

This is a wonderful morning exercise to set the tone of centered, relaxed contentment for the day! Thank you!

I find this meditation incredibly precious and vital to cultivating happiness and contentment in a sometime troubled world. I a so grateful for this gem of a meditation and have saved it to listen to daily until it becomes my nature to breathe in peace and breathe out joy, breathe in comfort and breathe out pleasure, and so on. Thank you so very much Malcolm!