Beginner Breath Focused Meditation

Guided meditation on mindfulness of breathing. Calm, simple, and direct guidance. This accessible practice is a great place to start to develop stability of mind or focus, and can be practiced sitting, standing, or laying down. No experience needed.

Transcript

Settle into your comfortable posture for meditation,

A posture that promotes a sense of alertness and wakefulness,

But one that's also comfortable.

And it's really helpful at the start of a period of meditation to invite a little bit more ease and relaxation into the body.

So that might mean taking a few moments right now to stretch or to yawn,

Or maybe taking a few fuller breaths in and out,

Sighing if you need to perhaps.

Ah.

It can also be very supportive to set an intention at the beginning of your practice.

This can be something very simple and I'll provide some examples.

So an intention might be,

May I be kind to myself?

For the next 15 minutes.

Or may I approach this practice with curiosity and kindness?

Or may I be open to beginning again as many times as is needed?

So just sensing into your heart,

Perhaps there's some intention that you've brought today or something just below the surface that's showing up right now.

And if there are no words that feel right,

That's totally fine.

You can just let it go,

Let the words go and allow the intention that you've brought just by being here to be enough.

Bringing your attention now to the posture of your body.

So if you're sitting,

Know that you're sitting.

If you're lying down,

Know that you're lying down.

And how do you know this?

As best you can,

Bring your attention fully to the sensations in the body of sitting or of lying down.

Notice the touch points,

The points of contact that your body makes with the surfaces that support you.

Feel the sensations of pressure or of temperature,

The hardness or softness of whatever is supporting your body.

Notice where your hands are resting.

Become aware of the shape of your spine,

If it's upright or rounded,

Slumped.

You might also become aware of the clothing that's coming into contact with your skin.

Just sitting and knowing that you're sitting or lying down and knowing that you're lying down,

Feeling into the body.

And see if it's possible now to just very simply become aware of all theergies that are out,

And unchecked into knowing that something is happening within you as well.

And how about you tell me what you were after before summer.

Look how evolving you look before this summer has been around the world.

And as always,

Become aware of the fact that your body is breathing.

You don't have to do anything.

So without making any changes or adjustment to what you're physically doing,

Sitting or lying down,

Just noticing that breathing is already happening.

You might feel the breath at the belly or at the chest or at the nose or perhaps somewhere else.

And for this period of practice,

The invitation is to rest your attention on one spot where the breath can be known the most easily or the most obviously.

So seeing where that is for you.

If you're unsure or if the breath feels really subtle,

It can be helpful to take a full breath in and out,

Maybe doing that a couple of times.

And then choose one spot where the breath is felt really clearly and setting a strong intention to rest your awareness or your attention on that one spot as best you can for the rest of our practice.

And so a gentle reminder here that this is not a breathing meditation.

We're not trying to breathe in any particular way or special way.

The task is just to notice how it feels to breathe however it is.

And so settle on your chosen spot and then for the rest of our time together as best you can,

Hold your attention on the sensations of the breath at this particular place.

Seeing the breath as if from the inside out rather than thinking about it.

If you're paying attention at the nose,

You might notice sensations of temperature,

Perhaps of coolness or warmth.

There might also be a sense of moisture.

If you're paying attention at the chest,

You might be aware of the rise and fall of the breath,

Stretching of tissues.

If you're paying attention at the belly,

There might be sensations of expansion or contraction.

And so without changing anything,

Just knowing how the breath is one breath at a time.

Allowing the body to breathe naturally and simply knowing what it feels like to breathe in this moment.

This inhale.

This exhale.

One breath at a time.

Seeing how close you can get to the breath.

How close you can get to the physical sensations of each inhale and each exhale.

One breath.

Realizing if any tension or contraction or holding in some way has crept into the face or some other part of the body and just relaxing back.

Allowing the breath to be as it is in this moment.

A shallow breath or a deep breath.

However it is,

It's just fine.

When your attention is pulled elsewhere,

Maybe into thinking or daydreaming,

And surely this has already happened many times,

Just gently guide your attention back to the next breath,

The next inhale or the next exhale.

Realizing the sensations of the breath at your chosen spot.

Where is your attention now?

Gently guiding the attention back to the breath if your attention is somewhere else.

Knowing that mind wandering is not a mistake,

It's not a sign of doing anything wrong.

This is simply what our minds do.

In this practice,

We're honing our skills of noticing when the mind has wandered off from our intended object of attention and strengthening our ability to stay present,

To stay with whatever it is we're hoping to attend to,

And also to just be with the present moment as it is,

Not trying to change anything.

So as many times as you notice that your attention is elsewhere,

You simply begin again.

In this way,

Returning from distraction is the whole practice.

Okay.

Returning from distraction,

Coming back to the next inhale or exhale.

And it can also be helpful to use a very soft mental note of in on the inhale and out on the exhale.

This helps to direct the attention to the breath a little more clearly and also to provide feedback when the mind has been pulled elsewhere.

So just very gently,

If you're using this technique,

Very gently,

Very lightly,

Noting in on the inhale and out on the exhale and continuing to rest most of your attention on the physical sensations of the breath.

Okay.

.

Noting in on the inhale and out on the exhale.

Feeling the breath,

Knowing if it's a short breath or a long breath.

The physical sensations of the breath.

Letting go of the narrow focus on the breath and just for a moment,

Seeing if you can expand your awareness to include the whole body.

Perhaps there's a sense of the whole body breathing or simply the whole body sitting or lying down or standing.

And then letting this practice go.

If the eyes are closed,

Opening them and inviting an awareness of the space around you in the next moments of your day.

Thank you for practicing with me.