One Breath Meditation

In this meditation we will focus on strengthening awareness and concentration in much the same way as one would strengthen a muscle. We will repeatedly contract and relax the awareness in order to train the mind to grow stronger, more refined and ultimately more present.

Transcript

Namaste friends and welcome to Refuel Yoga.

My name is Andrew and in today's class I'm going to teach you a specific meditation technique to train your mind,

To train your awareness and your concentration,

Much like you would train a muscle.

So when we want to train our muscles to make our body stronger,

What do we do?

We put some pressure on them,

We contract them,

And that gives them extra blood,

Extra energy,

And then we relax them and they heal and they repair and they grow stronger.

We're going to take the same concepts and apply it to our mind,

Apply it to our awareness and our concentration.

It's an easy sort of meditation and it's really helping us to go deep quickly because we can really understand what it is to focus,

To make the mind like a laser and really concentrate,

And what it is to not do that.

And through this contrast we can really understand what is strong concentration.

So if that sounds interesting to you,

Grab your yoga mat,

Grab a block or a cushion or something that you can sit on to make yourself comfortable,

Because the most important thing is that we're comfortable.

And let's get ready to practice.

So find your way into a comfortable seated position,

Whatever that means for you really.

Take any cross-legged position,

You can sit kneeling,

You can sit in a chair.

The most important thing is that we're comfortable.

When we want to work with the mind,

We really want the body to be able to relax as much as possible.

So find a way you can sit nice and tall,

Comfortably.

Okay,

So once you've found your position,

Wade into it,

Find your comfort.

And then we'll just start by,

You know,

Letting go.

So take a deep inhalation through the nose,

Then open the mouth and sigh it out.

Make a sound,

And really soften the body.

Really let that relax your mind.

We'll do that again.

Deep inhalation,

Exhale with a sound,

And feel that sound vibrating your chest,

Vibrating the nervous system.

It's very relaxing.

One more time.

Deep inhalation,

And sitting with the eyes closed,

Attention turned inside.

We're going to start by really taking time to relax into this position.

And we're going to start with the jaw.

Start by relaxing the jaw.

There's a lot of tension can be held in the jaw.

The jaw is really connected with our fight or flight reaction.

You know,

Whenever we're tense,

Whenever we're in fear,

Wherever we're in a new place and we don't feel comfortable,

There's tension in the jaw.

So really try to relax the jaw.

Don't hold the breath,

Keep breathing slow and deep.

But really focus right now on relaxing the jaw.

My teacher used to always say,

Imagine you've got a nice piece of chocolate in the tongue and you're just letting it dissolve.

Let yourself feel the chocolate melting.

Let yourself taste it and allow the jaw to really relax.

Really taking a moment to relax the jaw.

And you can already feel the mind starts to relax.

Can already feel the rest of the body starts to relax.

If it makes sense to you,

Try to create space between each of the teeth.

Open the upper palate and create space between each of the teeth.

And as you relax the jaw,

Start to move down,

Relax the throat,

Relax the jaw,

Relax the shoulders.

Notice how the more the jaw relaxes,

The easier it is for the rest of the body to relax.

Relax the jaw,

Relax the chest,

Relax the upper back and shoulders.

Make sure you're sitting nice and tall,

But in a relaxed manner.

Sit up tall,

Relax the jaw and then relax all the way down the spine.

Relax the belly,

Relax the hips,

Relax any tension in the pelvic area,

The genitals and the anus.

Relax down the legs,

The knees,

Calves,

The ankles.

Relax from the jaw all the way down to the toes.

Relax from the shoulders all the way down the arms to the fingertips.

Feel your whole body softening into this position.

Relax the jaw and relax the face,

The forehead,

The eyes,

The nose,

The cheeks.

As you relax the physical body,

Notice how relaxed the mind becomes,

How relaxed and fluid the awareness becomes.

The mind is able to easily drift from one thought to another,

From one sensation to another.

Now start to bring your awareness to the sensation of the breath.

Feel the breath coming in through the nose,

Down the throat,

Down into the belly.

Notice the belly rise with the inhalation and notice the belly relax in with the exhalation.

The breath flows in the nose,

Down the throat,

Expanding the belly.

The breath flows from the belly,

Up the throat and out the nose.

Again,

Relax your awareness.

Just let go.

Relax the jaw and see what it's like to be very soft.

Now we're going to try to focalize our awareness,

Really focalize your concentration for one breath.

Be completely present for one breath.

Feel every sensation,

Every movement.

Don't allow the mind to be distracted at all for one breath.

And then relax.

Relax your awareness,

Relax your concentration for as long as you need.

And when you feel ready,

You come back again to be completely present for one breath.

In the moment of relaxing,

You can keep breathing.

Don't hold your breath.

You can allow the mind to wander.

We're just releasing the pressure,

Releasing the tension.

Just releasing the pressure,

Releasing the contraction of the awareness.

And when you feel like you've rested from that,

Again,

Contract the awareness,

Remove the thoughts and be completely present for one breath.

Notice when you contract your awareness,

If it creates any tension in the jaw,

Then relax.

Don't allow the body to get into this practice.

It's all about the mind.

Now let that go.

Just relax again.

Come back.

Relax into the present moment.

Awareness is soft.

Concentration is relaxed.

For the next part of the practice,

We will try to remain completely present for three breaths.

So really focusing,

Being fully present to all the sensations,

All the activities in the body,

Relaxing the mind and being completely present,

100% present for three breaths.

And then relax.

Take a break,

Pause.

And when you feel ready,

Come back for three breaths.

Make sure you give yourself that time between one set of three breaths and another,

The time to relax and familiarize yourself with what it is to be extremely focused and relaxed in your focus.

Very good.

Very good concentration.

Very good awareness.

Relax.

Relax.

Notice if there's any tension accumulated in the body and completely relax.

For this next part,

It's going to be a bit of a stretch.

We're going to try to remain completely present for seven breaths.

If seven is too much for you today,

You can stick with three,

But try to remain completely present for seven breaths and then let go.

Have that moment to relax,

That moment to just be.

And when you feel like your mind has got the power again,

Come back and be 100% present for seven breaths.

And if you happen to notice the mind gets distracted before seven breaths,

It's okay.

It's very normal.

Don't ever beat yourself up about it.

Just take a break,

Relax.

Allow your mind to be distracted for a moment.

And when you feel ready,

Start over for seven breaths.

And that will do.

Push the round you're on and come back to relaxing,

Sitting with the eyes closed,

Attention turned inside.

Take a moment to notice how you feel after the practice,

How you feel in your body,

In your energy,

In your mind.

And in this beautiful space of presence,

I invite you to bring your hands together in front of the heart,

Anjali Mudra,

And take this moment to say thank you to yourself for taking this time to focus,

To work with the mind,

To develop your awareness and your presence.

And know in your heart that when you do these practices,

To become more aware and more present,

It benefits not only your life,

But the life of everyone you meet along the way.

This is why I always say,

Working on the self is the most selfless work we can do.

You deserve to say thank you to yourself today.

Thank you,

Self.

Take a deep inhalation into the heart.

And as you exhale,

Gently coming back so that I can say thank you so much for joining me.

I hope you enjoyed this meditation.

I'll let you know,

If you want to come and practice live with me,

Kalele and I will be hosting two retreats this May,

2023 in Italy.

The first one is a tantric yogic retreat exclusively for couples.

So the couples can learn to work on the chakra system through their intimate connection.

And the second one is our chakra journey retreat,

Where we take you on a journey through the chakras,

Both on and off the mat,

Experiencing the different energies of the chakras through different styles of yoga,

Different practices,

Working with emotions,

Going outside and doing special adventures.

Both are beautiful experiences.

If you want to learn more about them,

They'll be in the first link in the description.

And with that said,

Thank you so much.

Have a beautiful day.

Namaste.

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