Observation Of Breath

A mindfulness style practice recorded on a smartphone in a meeting room; so the quality is not excellent and there may be background noise. The audio was uploaded so that group members can still access or meditations during the Coronavirus outbreak.

Transcript

Hello everybody,

This is Matt.

I'm just going to do some recordings for us during the time we can't meet to practice.

I know there's quite a few of us in different workplaces and community groups that can't meet now,

So I'm going to do a couple of little meditations for us to help us to continue with our practice during this time while the coronavirus is taking hold I suppose.

So the first one we're going to do now is going to be our usual breath meditation that we do.

So I'm going to take us through that.

So to start off with,

Just make yourself comfortable.

Take your shoes off if you're in a chair or sit comfortable in the cushion and just allow yourself to settle in.

And then what we'll do is we'll do our grounding technique that we always do.

So just take your awareness to the feet on the floor.

And there from that place,

Take your awareness then to the chair that's against your body.

Notice the contact with the thighs,

The backside and the lower back.

For a cushion just notice the contact with the backside.

And then take your awareness to the sounds that you can hear around you.

Noticing the sounds maybe outside of the room,

But then also noticing the sounds inside the room.

And then we'll take two breaths in.

So one lovely breath in through the nose and out through the mouth and then we'll repeat that.

So another deep breath in.

Now we'll take another deep breath in again.

And just allow yourself to settle in.

Now I'm recording this from one of the places I visit so I'm not in a studio so apologies for any background noise but we just deal with those distractions like we normally do.

So any normal distractions we would come back to.

Noticing the sensation of the breath.

So if we get any distractions from the place I'm in we'll just do the same.

So starting then with the body scan,

Take your awareness then back to your feet on the floor.

And just notice the physical sensations of your feet there.

And then take your awareness up onto your toes,

Tops of the feet and the ankles.

And just notice the sensations there.

And then take your awareness then up through the lower legs,

The knees,

The thighs,

The hips and the backside.

Just take a moment to notice the physical sensations there.

And then flow your awareness then up onto the belly,

The lower back,

The upper back and the chest.

And just notice the physical sensations there.

And then take your awareness then up onto the shoulders,

The shoulder joints and work our way down through the upper arms,

The elbows,

The forearms,

The wrists,

The backs of the hands and the palms of the hands.

Notice that little dish that forms in the palm.

And then take your awareness out onto your thumbs,

First fingers,

Second fingers,

Third fingers and fourth.

And then just flow your awareness all the way back up through your arms.

Just noticing the physical sensations present as you do that.

And then take your awareness then across from the shoulder joints up to the throat,

The back of the neck,

The jaw,

The mouth.

Noticing your lips and your teeth,

Your gums,

The insides of the cheeks,

The roof of the mouth,

The tongue and the space underneath your tongue.

And then take a moment just to notice the taste and physical sensations in your mouth at this moment.

And then take your awareness up to the nose and the nostrils,

Across onto the ears,

Noticing the shape of our ears.

Flow in your awareness then across onto the eyelids and the eyelashes and the eyeballs.

And just notice the sensations there.

And then take your awareness then up onto the forehead,

The back of the head and the crown.

And from that place just notice the physical sensations in the body.

And then as if you've been emptied out just flow down through your body as if you've been emptied out through the bottom of the feet.

Just flowing all the way back to the tips of the fingers and tips of the toes as if you've been emptied out.

And then when you reach the bottom of your feet as if you've been filled afresh with a new liquid,

A new oil,

Just flow all the way back up through your body.

Again noticing what's present as you flow.

And then when you reach the crown of your head just again notice your presence,

What it feels like to be sat in the space that you're in.

Just being you,

Just being aware.

And then when you hear the bell I'll start to guide us in an observation of breath meditation.

So take your awareness then back to the sounds.

And then take your awareness then back to the sensation of the breath coming in through the nose.

And flowing your awareness as the air comes in through the nose,

Down the throat,

Down into the lungs.

And just notice the physical sensation,

The breath moving your body,

This delicious movement of the breath coming in,

Your chest rising,

Your ribs moving,

Your upper back moving,

Your belly.

So just notice the breath rolling in.

And then just notice the little pause at the end of your breath cycle.

And then just follow the breath back out.

And again just notice in all the little subtle movements in your body as the breath rolls back out.

And then notice the little pause that occurs again at the end of the breath cycle.

And then watch the breath rolling back in again.

So this is our first observation,

We notice the breath rolling into the body,

The breath rolling back out.

And just continue with this,

Just watching the breath rolling in,

Breath rolling out.

And if you get distracted this is where we come back to.

So many thoughts come in,

Many sounds come in that distract us,

We just come back to this place.

Watching the breath rolling in.

And then there's an option now just to bring awareness to your body for a moment,

Just noticing what's physically present again in your body.

So as you sit and watch the breath rolling in and rolling out,

Just notice the sensations that are present.

Maybe your shoulders are tight,

Maybe your jaw is tight,

Maybe there's a sensation in the lower back.

But whatever's present we just accept it at this moment and then just try to allow yourself to soften the breath.

We accept the physical sensations present but we continue watching the breath flow as we do.

And then when you're ready return then back to watching your breath rolling again.

So we come away from the physical sensation in the body,

Just back to the sensation of the breath moving in your body.

So notice in the chest rising full,

The subtle movements in your body as this breath rolls in and rolls out.

And then we'll take a moment now to set some intentions for the day.

So just think about what sort of qualities you would like to bring into the remainder of your day whenever you're practising this.

Be more patient with yourself or patient with others but the qualities that you would like to see come into your life that are right for you.

So just take a moment to think through a couple of qualities you would like to bring into your day.

And then when you have those intentions what we do is you bring them in now with the breath,

You picture them coming into your body,

Setting into your heart centre and as you breathe out you just leave those intentions there like just to take seed and to plant in your heart and trust that they will come up as and when you need them to.

So just allow them to come in with the breath and just leave them there in your heart.

And then when you're ready return back to watching your breath again just rolling in and rolling out.

And then when you hear the bell that will be the end of this practice and we'll do our grounding technique and then we'll open our eyes that will be the end of the practice.

So take your awareness to the sounds around you,

Just notice what's present and then take your awareness to the sensations of the chair supporting your body.

Notice your feet firm on the floor and then take the two breaths in and out through your eyes.

So breathe in through the nose.

I'm going to do one more again,

Lovely deep breath in and sigh out through the mouth and then open your eyes when you're ready.

And thank you for practicing with me I hope that was useful.

Reviews

My first meditation using one of your recordings Matt and that was really great! I thought the quality of recording was absolutely fine, I didn’t notice any unwanted exterior noise and couldn’t tell it was a phone recording. A great grounding and positive meditation, really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to trying others in your catalogue!