Mindfulness Of Breathing

This is a short, simple mindfulness of breathing practice based on the first tetrad of the Anapanasati Sutta (mindfulness of in and out breathing). This teaching instructs the practitioner to begin with awareness of the breath, then become aware of the entire body, and finally to calm "bodily fabrication." This can be a useful meditation all on its own, or could be a good way to get calm and centered before other practices. I hope you find it useful!

Transcript

First,

A bow.

Bell And establishing the posture makes it relaxed,

Upright.

Taking some deep,

Refreshing breaths to begin.

Just making sure we're not oxygen deprived from the outset.

So refresh the body with the breath,

And then allow the breath to calm and begin to observe.

Is the breath long?

Is it short,

Deep,

Shallow?

Is there texture,

Temperature?

Following the breath all the way through the rising,

The transition,

The falling,

The transition,

Following the breath.

We begin by being sensitive to what the sensations of breathing alone are telling us.

We notice where in the body we feel the breath most prominently,

And we just continue to stay.

And we know that we are moving toward breathing in and out,

Sensitive to the entire body.

And so,

Using our awareness,

We grow from just the sensations of the movement of breath to the sensation of our entire body in this space.

You can use the breath as a tool in this,

Feeling the edge of the sensations of breathing.

It's easy to feel the movement of the ribs,

The movement of the abdomen.

Perhaps beginning to feel the push into the pelvis and up into the shoulders.

We can feel the sensations of our hands sitting in our lap,

And our face relaxed at ease.

And just keep letting our awareness move as we stay with the in and out breath,

Growing our awareness,

Spreading it,

Spreading it like a mist or like light,

Allowing the glow of our awareness to encompass our entire body.

And letting the in and out breathing be calm and refreshing,

And letting our body be calm and refreshed.

And just letting that be the whole of the practice today.

Our mind wanders,

Just returning to the breath,

And gently working toward that glow of awareness that encompasses our entire body.

And letting that whole process be relaxed.

And just staying with this idea for the next couple minutes until the bell rings.

Reviews

An excellent ten minute meditation vacation. Thank you.

The silence offered after the first bell allowed me to come back to myself without hurry.
The meditation is excellent as grounding meditation before a main practice, or simply as a short breathing pause whenever you need it.
Thank you, Mark 🙏

I'm re-reviewing this magnificent 10 minute session. I love the long silent drop-in after the bell, nice time to sort and balance yourself before Mark's excellent gentle guidance through some simple and effective breathing ... the way you know you should be doing it, but it slips your mind mostly. There's a nice long silent fade too 👌

Simple and lovely meditation. Thank you

I felt the glow and the mist. Ahhhhh...now ready to begin my day. Thank you, Mark.

An excellent practice focused on the breath and being present with how you fee. Smooth narration and a good opening and closing bell. There was quite a gap after the opening bell with no sound, I suppose to let you come into the moment, but it left me thinking the app had stopped and I had to check it twice to make sure the silence was intentional. This lasted probably less than 30 seconds.

Very grounding. Thank you 🙏

I like the simplicity. Thanks.

Calming. Soothing voice. Like the silences between.

Lovely exercise thank you 🙏🏻

Thank you for this relaxing meditation!

Really relaxing, thank you 😊

Really effective meditation, thank you. You have a lovely calm voice and great teachings but I liked the silences even better! Thank you for giving me time to breathe 🙏🏽

Really appreciate the long periods of silence and the quiet guidance. Bookmarking this one. Than you.