(MBSR) Awareness of Breathing

Mindfulness of breathing is the basic and essential practice for stabilizing the mind and cultivating our ability to attend to present moment experience. A practice to come back to time and time again. Here offered with guidance.

Transcript

This will be a seated meditation,

Mindfulness of breathing.

Much can be said about the posture,

But for this short meditation just to note that we want to find a way to be stable with the body upright and open.

If it's comfortable to sit cross-legged on the floor to prop up the buttocks a little bit,

Tilting the hips down a little to open the chest.

And a similar feeling is sitting on a chair to sit forward on the chair a little bit or a pillow behind the low back with a sense of gently extending the spine without straining.

Extending the spine all the way up into the neck,

Letting the chest open a little bit as the shoulders just gently drop down and back.

And so establishing this sort of noble upright posture.

And as we establish it we're transitioning into stillness.

So much of the time we're living in a sort of reactive,

Responsive state.

And this seated mindfulness meditation helps us to stabilize,

To stop,

To just practice the possibility of not reacting for these minutes.

Not reacting so much to thoughts,

To the things we need to do,

To our worries of the day.

To just have a time that's just for us.

Just to sit.

Just to breathe.

Just to be present in this moment in what's happening right now.

So as we start to feel the body stabilizing,

Settling as we gently hold it still,

Let's turn our attention to the breathing.

Feeling the sensation in the body of breathing.

Remember that is evident right now in the chest,

In the nostrils and nasal passages,

In the mouth.

These mindfulness meditations don't have any particular outcome.

Sometimes doing these practices may help us to feel a little calmer.

Other times they just put us in touch with agitation or anxiety or whatever is occurring in the mind and body.

And that's fine.

Our goal here is just to take a time to be still and aware of what's happening now.

And the breath is our companion,

Our steady companion.

And as we start to reacquaint ourselves with this companion,

With the breathing,

We're going to be able to feel the body.

You may notice that the mind wanders off into thoughts of the past or the future.

Or the attention of mind may be drawn to strong sensations in the body,

Pains,

Aches,

Tensions.

And when that happens,

To see if we can just gently escort the mind back to the breathing with a minimum of extra commentary or concern.

For this is just the natural process of mind.

Not a failure in our ability to meditate.

In a way,

The meditation itself is bringing the mind back.

In this case,

Back to breathing.

Back to this breathing in the still body,

Sitting on the mat or the chair.

Just noticing what the breathing really feels like right now.

The expansion of the inhalation and the release of the exhalation.

Allowing ourselves to become interested in this natural rhythm of our life.

Hazır para mysterious If there is a strong sensation in the body of pain or an ache,

Before moving or adjusting or stretching,

It might be interesting to see if we can just notice,

With this stable calming breath in the background,

What does that sensation really feel like?

Just be with that sensation for two or three breaths before moving or perhaps finding that we don't need to move after all.

We can just allow the body to be still,

Including this strong sensation.

So this is something to experiment with.

Part of the work of reducing how reactive we can be is actually just to sit still,

Even when there is discomfort.

Returning to the breathing.

Just breath.

If the mind's wandered off,

Just again gently returning to this feeling of the breathing in the body.

Just like a strong sensation in the body,

And really grab hold of the attention pulling us away from the breathing.

Persistent thoughts in the mind can also grab hold of the attention,

Sometimes grabbing us into a loop of thinking,

Worrying,

Rumination.

So just to notice if there is some persistent thought of the past,

Something that happened,

Or the future,

Something we're needing to do or concerned about.

The mind just keeps going back to a thought or a theme.

Just to note that this is not the time to solve it or figure it out.

There's a possibility here of taking a break from that inner work that can be so constant sometimes.

So perhaps just to note to yourself,

Worry about the future,

Or painful memory,

Or drowsiness,

Foggy mind.

Just to note whatever that persistent state of mind may be.

And then again,

Gently returning to the feeling of the body.

The feeling of the breath in the body.

Sometimes taking a few little bit deeper breaths may help us with that transition back,

But for the most part just allowing the breath to be natural.

Allowing the breath to be the breath.

Just breathing with whatever is happening.

Gently returning.

Feeling the sweep of the breath as it passes in and out of the body.

Bringing the oxygen that the body needs to sustain life.

Respiration.

Inspiration.

Through this process of mindfulness of breathing,

Instilling the body.

Even when inner conditions are challenging,

It may be possible to feel a little bit of space,

Perhaps a little bit of ease,

Even with the difficulty.

And this is cultivated through this taking time to just sit,

To just breathe,

To just be.

Gently returning.

And as we come to the end of our seated mindfulness of breathing practice,

It may be helpful just to appreciate for a moment that you've made this effort,

That you've taken this time,

Given yourself some space.

And now not being in too much of a hurry to get up right away,

Perhaps spending a few minutes stretching the shoulders,

The back,

The neck.

Perhaps even smiling a little bit,

If that's possible.

And then returning to the busy world of activity.

Reviews

Perfect, thank you so much!

A straightforward guidance on the fundamentals of the practice with clear cues and gentle pacing.

Lovely. Just enough prompts and plenty of silence.

So nice. I love your calm voice. Thank you so much.

Very calming voice. Really allowed me to let go of the past and the future and just be present to the now.

great , soothing, simple

Tim has a very soothing voice and he helps the listener remain focused and kind to themselves during this meditation 😊.

Exactly what was needed, thank you.

Great. Really can feel the teacher’s own embodiment of the practice. Thank you!!

Fantastic session with a calm and soothing voice and perfect pace. Thanks

Tim is a great instructor if you have the chance. Perfect voice for guiding meditation!

Still one of my favorite MNSR meditation. The calm gentle voice enhance the listener’s practice. Very gentle and effective

Tim’s cues to focus on areas of tension or pain and breathe through them and then applying that same tactic to recurring or circular thoughts was very helpful. 20 minutes went fast!

Very good for beginners!

Simple, non-intrusive instruction, clearly voiced, supporting the practice very well.

Beautiful meditation. Just the right prompts to keep me on track. Lots of helpful suggestions and reminders. Very relaxing and restorative meditation.

Gentle, rhythmic guidance with enough space between to touch silence.

Nice, soft, relaxing, with a good balance between words and instructions and silence to let you practice.

Just long enough to become comfortable with sitting and short enough to manage sitting still with pain.

Always a good one thanks