Breath Awareness Meditation

A led practice given on a women's retreat in England in the summer of 2016. This meditation begins lying down and then moves into a seated practice.

Transcript

Okay,

So if you're laying down,

You can just begin to feel all of the places where the body is in touch with the earth,

From the back of the head all the way down to the bottoms of the feet,

Or the heels.

If you're sitting,

Just grounding in through the sitting bones,

Knees,

Thighs,

Calves.

So we'll just spend a little bit of time exploring our relationship with the earth here.

And on the in-breath,

Maybe imagining drawing the quality of stillness up from the earth into the body.

And on the out-breath,

Imagining the breath travelling out into space,

Connecting you with this infinite space in which we hang.

Really letting yourself fully hang in this space,

The weight of the body being drawn down into the earth.

And if you're sitting up,

The upper body rising up into space,

If you're laying down,

You can just open to the space above you,

Connecting with the sky,

The whole universe beyond the sky.

Infinite space above,

All around,

And even below us,

The space of the earth.

And then just taking a few moments here to allow the breath to help you locate places of tension in the body,

Anywhere where you're holding.

You might know these places already,

For me it's often the shoulders,

The neck,

The throat,

The solar plexus,

The abdomen.

Somewhere in the body where tension is held,

Allowing the breath to find that place,

Bringing awareness on the breath.

And ease,

Easing into the earth,

Dropping down.

So we're going to use our imagination to connect with the breath.

So we do know about breathing as a phenomenon,

We know what happens.

So there's a diaphragm that sits right across the center of our torso,

Spread out,

Tucked in under the lungs.

And in its relaxed position,

It sits like an umbrella or a parachute.

And then the brain sends a message to that muscle.

And the diaphragm flattens down and expands outward in all directions,

Creating a vacuum in the lungs,

So that air can come rushing in through the mouth and the nose.

And then on the out breath,

The diaphragm relaxes back into its umbrella-like position under the lungs.

So as we breathe in,

It flattens down,

Massaging the organs.

This is why we get an expansion in the belly.

But you can even feel that movement in the sides of the body,

The sides of the torso expanding out on the in breath,

Contracting in on the out breath.

And you can even feel it in the back,

A gentle rocking in the lower back.

So without trying to control anything here,

Just tuning into this very simple movement that goes on thousands and thousands of times a day,

Keeping us alive.

And you get interested and curious in the sensations in the body as the diaphragm moves and air comes and goes.

Again.

And just bringing awareness now into the pelvic floor.

So first just notice as you drop the awareness down into the pelvic floor,

You could even imagine breathing into that space.

Notice what's there.

There's another diaphragm in our pelvis that also moves with the breath.

It's much more subtle than the central diaphragm.

You may or may not have any sense of it.

So just getting curious here.

This diaphragm opens and relaxes on the in-breath.

And then returns to a neutral position on the out-breath.

You may even feel subtle sensations of opening and closing in the anus or the vagina.

You're just tuning into any sensations there.

Okay.

And then coming up into the throat center where there's a third diaphragm that's connected with our breathing.

And a way to get in touch with this diaphragm is to swallow.

We can feel in the back of the throat a muscle that moves when we swallow,

Contracts and then opens.

So again seeing if you can't get in touch here with any sensations of breathing passing through this diaphragm.

This is often a place where there's quite a lot of tension,

So just noticing if there's any sense of contractedness here.

And then from the central diaphragm,

Bringing your awareness back there for a moment,

You can begin to expand out to include both the pelvic floor and the throat center,

Beginning to get a sense of the rhythm of the breath in all three diaphragms as it comes and goes.

Being curious and interested in what happens in each diaphragm as you breathe,

Following the breath through the throat,

All the way down into the pelvic floor and then back out again.

And then we're just going to play around a bit here,

So in your own way,

However you feel you'd like to do this,

Just play around with contracting in different diaphragms,

So pulling in and holding with the central diaphragm,

This would be a holding of the breath at the end of the out breath,

Or a clenching of the throat,

Or a clenching of the buttocks,

And then what happens when you release?

So just do that in your own way,

Particularly noticing what happens in the other diaphragms when you hold and release in one of them.

So just playing around with exploring the relationship between the three diaphragms.

And then allowing the breath to find its natural rhythm,

Releasing any holding,

Noticing how that is.

And then beginning to expand your awareness,

To include the whole body breathing,

So aware of sensations as you breathe,

From the top of the head all the way down to the tips of the toes.

You could even scan through the body like a curious explorer looking for sensations of breathing.

Skin moving,

Clothing up against the skin,

The back rocking,

Tingling sensations,

Sense of rhythm and movement,

Maybe a sense of temperature,

A whole rich texture of sensations coming and going with the breath.

A body that is fully alive,

And an awareness that is present to that aliveness,

A kindly gentle presence,

Being with the breathing body.

So if you're sitting you can just continue to explore the breathing body in this way.

If you're laying down I'd like to invite you to slowly begin to deepen the breath,

Wiggle fingers and toes,

Maybe rotate wrists and ankles,

Roll over to one side for a moment,

Take a few breaths there,

And then very very kindly and mindfully begin to transition into your posture,

Your seated posture.

We're going to keep meditating but we're going to do that altogether sitting up.

Try not to lose that continuity of awareness as you move.

So connecting in with the whole body breathing,

Noticing how it's possibly different in a seated position than laying down.

How is it just now?

Reconnecting with the earth beneath us,

The space all around us,

And the breath that connects us intimately to that space,

To that earth.

From this foundation of steadiness,

Of calm,

Just beginning to hone your awareness around the breath as it comes and goes in the body.

So getting very interested in just now those direct sensations of the breath,

Looking at temperature,

Duration,

Is it long or short?

What's the quality of the breath?

Is it coarse or fine?

Silky,

Maybe a bit thick and heavy?

What's actually going on?

What's happening now?

So in the moment I am going to ring a bell which marks a transition,

Not the end of the meditation.

And what we're going to do is we're going to turn to someone and we're just going to say a bit about what we noticed during the practice.

And I just invite you to work with any resistance that comes up in response to having to do that.

We could ask ourselves can we be as interested in someone else's process of waking up as we are in our own?

And it doesn't have to make sense and it doesn't have to be grand.

It could just be that you notice the sound of a fly buzzing.

Reviews

I really enjoy this meditation. I got really curious about noticing the subtle sensations of breathing, and the teaching on the basic mechanics of how the body breathes really helped me stay with the breath.

It’s a very soothing, reflective session. Love it very much. Thank you!

Helped to increase my awareness of the breath and thinking about the 3 diaphragms as listened to this recording. 🙏

Loved the sense of community of this meditation
Taking energy from the earth, washing gently through my body
and exhaling to oneness onto the universe and all beings
Wonderful
🙏🏼

Although this meditation is titled "Breath Awareness Meditation," for me it was about the Silence...

Very peaceful. Very aware of my breath. Thank you

Breathing and stillness. I didn't know my breath went so far!

Really good for feeling into one's body without judgement

All my years of studying Hatha Yoga, and was never taught breathing this completely and this simply. I cannot extend enough gratitude for this lesson. Thank you. (ps I rather liked the sounds of meditating with a group, and enjoyed the outside sounds, the birds especially.)

This was so interesting - had not been really aware of three diaphragms yet once the awareness and connection was made it became so obvious. Really enjoyed the live class and connectedness with others. 💜

I enjoyed attending to all the different aspects of breathing and the breath and the body. I learned more to add to my practice. Thank you. 🙏🏽

Clear and precise instructions. Was different and very helpful. Thanks for sharing.

I appreciate this focus on the three diaphragms. Loved the birds! Thank you!

While the sound quality is mediocre, with coughs and cut from a longer meditation, the measured guidance is superb. What makes this recording so unique is the attention to the three Bandhas with elements of Pranayama