15 Minute Mindful Breathing

This track is an improvised mindfulness of breathing and is based on how I guide the beginning of my own sittings. It also gives guidance for proper posture, breathing, and body, as well as feeling awareness.

Transcript

That is the way to buddha. It's the time of hole Welcome everyone. Let's check in with our postures. Make sure that you're seated in a balanced way. Not leaning too far forward, Too far back, Or to either side. You can even make small circles with your spine just to sort of find that center point. You want to be seated upright with a straight spine, But with the muscles relaxed around the spine, Shoulders relaxed, The head up, The chin just slightly tucked. The posture should be a balance between alertness and ease. Let's begin gaining awareness of the body beginning with the breath. Finding where the sensation of breathing is felt in the body. You can start with some deep breathing if you like, Which can help establish that awareness. And just following the breath, Staying here with interest and curiosity. And with the tone being observation, Or not holding on tight to the breath. Just doing the best we can to see exactly how it is. So you become more and more acquainted with how the breath is moving in the body. Can we begin to relate with sensations as feelings? As in, Where does the breath feel refreshing? Is there any place where we might notice some tightness or restriction? And just at a patient and still investigative and curious pace, Moving toward feelings of ease in the breath. Seeing if we can notice how by allowing our breathing to move in an easy way, We can bring about subtle feelings of well-being. We can even start to notice gladness, Pleasure. And we can rest in these feelings of well-being because they are derived in a blameless way. And just staying with the breath, Allowing the ease and pleasure of the breath to feed the comfort of staying here, Allowing it to be the energy which fuels our practice. And as we become even more settled, You can notice that this way of observing the breath and the sensations of the body becomes less and less restricted. And we can take this manner of observation and move outward throughout the whole body. One metaphor for the establishment of awareness throughout the whole body is of working water into soap powder. It should be like making a dough with water and flour. As our awareness grows and takes in more and more of our body in this space, It's like working the water into the flour. Eventually we come to a place where it's just the right amount. Our awareness is suffused completely to the whole body. And our mind feels at ease. We can always begin again with the breath we find our minds wandering off. Just as soon as we notice, Patiently return to the breath the sensations of breathing, Gradually moving outward, Gently penetrating with our awareness, More and more of our body, Just at the pace of breathing, At ease, At peace. And we will find some moments of stillness, Some moments of clarity. And as we approach the end of the sitting, Just briefly reflecting on what worked for us from this practice, Making a quick note of what we might bring forward into our days, Into our other practice sessions. And also setting the intention to maintain some of the stability of mind that we've cultivated here. So we might bring it into the world with us and share it with those we come across. Thank you.