The following is a guided meditation on the awareness of the breath.
This meditation includes guidance as well as periods of silence.
The silence allows you to focus fully on the breath and gives you the opportunity to work directly with your own mind.
It's important to remember that each time the mind wanders,
This is simply an opportunity to bring the focus back to the breath.
As you do this over and over,
You strengthen the brain's capacity for attention and concentration,
Vital functions of our overall well-being.
Each time the mind wanders,
If you can bring it back without judgment,
You are also taking the opportunity to strengthen the capacity for compassion and non-judgmental awareness.
Taking the time out of your day to settle into your body and spend some time with the breath can lead to an overall calmer presence throughout your day.
Living with the breath,
This life force that is with us from birth to death can be quite powerful.
As we learn to follow the breath,
Allowing it to flow freely without needing it to be in a certain way,
Without trying to control it,
We discover the natural sensation of ease and peacefulness,
Neither resisting nor forcing.
In these moments,
We are learning to let life be just as it is.
And if you would like,
Take a moment to set an intention for your practice today.
Perhaps it's to remain open and curious.
Or maybe it's to continue to soften and relax the mind.
Whatever it is,
When you take a moment to set an intention,
You often remain much more aware throughout the whole meditation.
So if you're ready,
Find a comfortable seat in a chair or on a meditation cushion.
And come into an alert and relaxed posture,
Breathing in and arousing a bit of energy in the body.
This is helpful in establishing a wakeful presence.
Breathing out and rooting down into the entire body.
This relaxes and opens the mind to what's here.
The sound of three bells will formally bring us into this practice.
The instruction is to just listen fully and allow the sounds to bring you into this moment.
Thank you.
As the sound of the bells dissolve and you bring your attention back to your breath,
Notice wherever it is most natural for you to connect with the breath.
Perhaps it's at the belly,
Or the chest,
Or the nose.
Spend a few moments here relating to this place in the breath cycle.
See if it's possible to bring a sense of openness and relaxation to this place.
Perhaps you began to notice that it's possible to concentrate without tensing or contracting,
But remaining open,
Relaxed,
And curious.
What's here?
What's this like?
And when your mind wanders off somewhere into the future,
Planning,
Thinking about something that might happen later,
Worrying,
Or if it drifts off into the past,
Remembering,
Regretting,
Simply bring it back to the breath.
You can do this hundreds of times during a meditation period.
You get lost,
You notice it,
And you come back.
No big deal.
This is the nature of the practice.
And now with this sense of openness and curiosity,
Allow your awareness to move from this place in the breath cycle to expand to include the entire breath cycle,
Bringing the sense of openness all the way through the in-breath and all the way through the out-breath.
See if you can notice how the breath feels in your body,
Bringing awareness to the cascade of various sensations as the air becomes the breath at the nostrils,
The movement of your collarbones and the rising of your chest,
The expansion of your rib cage,
The belly as it fills with air,
And then on the out-breath,
Everything contracts back,
The belly,
The rib cage,
The chest,
And the collarbones,
And the breath leaves the body,
And the next breath arrives.
This happens over and over,
And it's possible to continue to stay aware.
The breath arises and the breath passes.
In this alert and relaxed state,
You can open to the experience of breathing,
Receiving each breath just as it is.
This is a practice of non-striving.
You're not trying to get anywhere,
Not trying to have any particular type of experience.
This is a receptive effort,
Just receiving each breath,
Noticing what's here.
This breath that can only be experienced in the present moment,
It can offer a sense of coming home,
A home base of sorts.
You get lost,
You notice it,
And you come back,
Always here,
A place that you can return to over and over throughout this meditation and throughout your day.
Wherever you are,
If your mind is wandering somewhere off,
Simply pause and find the breath.
This is the breath as a felt sensation in the body.
It's experienced simultaneously with the stillness of the body sitting.
Sitting,
Breathing,
Being.
There's nothing to do.
There's nothing to do.
Nowhere to go.
Sitting,
Present,
Alert,
Relaxed,
Awake to the life that is here right now.
The only place that life is possibly experienced right now.
The only place that life is possible right now.
The only place that life is possible right now.
The only place that life is possible right now.
