Calming Shamata Practice

Join Prashanti Paz as she leads you through Shamata, a calming breath-focused practice rooted in Buddhist tradition. Perfect for moments of stress or anxiety, this simple yet powerful meditation helps you cultivate inner stillness and a clear, grounded mind. Return to this practice anytime you need to reconnect and find calm.

Transcript

Welcome to Day 18 of the Mid-Year Reset here on Insight Timer.

Your daily moment to pause,

Reflect and return to yourself.

Consistency is where real change begins.

Enjoy today's session.

Hi,

My name is Prashanthi Paz and today we are practicing a short shamatha or calm abiding meditation.

This is a simple yet powerful meditation rooted in Buddhist tradition and you can use it whenever you are feeling stressed,

Anxious or agitated.

Through this practice you may find yourself feeling more grounded,

Centered and connected to the present moment.

Shamatha uses different kinds of supports or anchors to stabilize the mind.

Today,

You will learn how to guide awareness onto the breath and watch mindfully.

Find a comfortable seated position and gently close your eyes.

Allow your spine to be straight but relaxed,

Shoulders soft and hands resting gently in your lap.

Take a deep breath in and a long slow breath out.

Again,

Breathe in deeply and exhale,

Allowing any tension to melt away.

Allow your breath to settle into its natural rhythm,

No need to force it or try to manipulate anything.

On each exhale,

Begin to count gently.

So,

Breathe in and as you breathe out,

Count one and breathe in and as you exhale,

Two.

If your mind wanders or you lose track,

Simply start again at one with kindness and patience.

Continue resting your attention on your breath as you count the cycle of ten.

Beautiful.

Gently bring your awareness back to the room and you may open your eyes and take a soft stretch if that feels good for you.

Thank you for joining me today.

You can come back to this calm,

Abiding presence whenever you need.

And as you move throughout your day,

Consider this.

What would it feel like to be able to pause and bring this sense of calm awareness into your everyday activities?

We would love to hear from you and how this practice felt,

So please share your experience in the challenge forum.

Take care and I look forward to meditating with you again soon.

Reviews

This was very helpful to bring me back to the present moment after being interrupted during my morning meditation. Namaste 🙏🏻✨💜

Really good

It was very helpful in relaxing my mind, body to begin my day. Thank you 🙏

Very relaxing

💕💕💕💕💕

A perfect pause. Thank you so much. 🙏🏽

I struggle with some Pranayama techniques due to asthma. This breath counting method was calming and easy to do. Thank you!

Another beautiful offering, thank you so much, dear Prashanti Paz. This one was just what I needed this morning-a soothing addition to my morning routine. I feel better already. Many thanks for sharing your gifts. 🙏🏽✨♥️

Such a calming breath practice. Thank you dear Prashanti 💖🙏🏼

Once again very peaceful and comforting, thank you for such of simple yet wonderful meditation

Lovely, simple & very help practice🙏

Amaizing, I was feeling so stressed, now calm, wonderful thankyou✨️💚✨️

Fantastic

A simple gentle practice that helped me stay present and gave my mind a way of focusing wthout wondering in the moment.

Simple but effective. A beautiful teaching. 🙏

So calming 💚😌

Perfect for a reset and focus on the breath/count.