A Simple Mindful Breath Meditation.

Sometimes it is the simplest practice that can be the most challenging. By taking time to focus on the breath and to witness yourself as your breath, you can come to familiarise yourself with the ways that you meet each moment. We notice the thinking, we notice the sensations and we return to the breath. This is the way that we come to know ourself - in this moment and in life.

Transcript

Okay. Good morning. Welcome. Welcome, Welcome. Welcome to your practice space. Welcome to your seat. Let's just begin by noticing what's here in the body. Finding connection to ground. Curious around sensation. And turning awareness toward breath. Allowing the breath to move, To breathe. Witnessing as your breath shows you how it wants to breathe. For our practice today, We can be with our breathing. A compassionate witness to our own breath. The inhale. The exhale. The pauses. For coming to know our own breath. And when mind wanders, As mind loves to do. When we notice the mind wandering, We smile. And label it simply our thinking. And then come back to witnessing the breath. There are so many ways that we can make our practice wrong. But we're getting it wrong. But we're wrong. The practice shouldn't be like this. There's some other way it ought to be. And so you might notice some of those ways creeping into your practice. They're just more thoughts. They're more important or less important than any other thoughts. So we smile. An inward smile. Hello thinking. And because they're no more or less important than any other thoughts, We can let them go. And come back to witnessing the breath. And when thoughts arise, They very often bring with them sensation. A body response. A tightening of a muscle. A shift of posture. Tiny micro movements of tension. And so perhaps we notice our thinking and, Ah yes, Sensation. And once acknowledged, Returning to witness your breathing. Sometimes the body is so used to the contraction, Bracing for impact, That without noticing, We can become quite tense. Even in our practice. We want to get it right. We want to be right. So it can take a repetition of remembering to soften. To trust your practice is okay. To trust that you are okay. As you witness your breath and you start to notice the nature of your thoughts, Your thinking, The sensation in your body, The tone of your practice today. These are the ways that we come to know ourselves. We know more clearly the ways that we have learnt to move through the world. Finding ground. And in the practice go, We offer the fruits of our practice to ourselves, To each other and to all beings. Namaste.