MIDL: Calming The Whole Breath

In MIDL Mindfulness Training 13/52 you bring your softening skills developed earlier into your mindfulness of breathing. As your breath draws in and your body expands outwards you 'open'; you 'open' to whatever you are experiencing now, regardless of what it is. As your breath goes out and your body deflates you than borrow the deflation of your body to soften / relax into your relationship to whatever you are experiencing now.

Insight Timer Group: MIDL Mindfulness Meditation

Transcript

During this mindfulness training,

We'll be developing the skill of calming with the whole breath.

If you just start out taking a meditation posture,

Now closing your eyes over lightly.

Start to be aware of what it feels like.

Just to be here.

Becoming aware of any sounds around you.

Allowing the change within the sound to hold your attention.

Becoming aware of any sounds around you.

Now slowly bring your awareness into your body.

Being aware of what it feels like just to sit here.

Aware of the experience of warmth or coolness within your body.

Also start to be aware of the place where your body touches the chair or the floor.

The experience of your whole body just sitting here.

Becoming aware of the experience of warmth or coolness within your body.

Now slowly bring your awareness into your body.

Now relax your chest and belly.

And allow your breathing to flow freely and naturally within your body.

Feeling the gentle movement of your breathing.

Now slowly bring your awareness into your body.

Becoming aware of the experience of warmth or coolness within your body.

Now start to be more closely aware of your breathing.

See if you can notice the moment each in-breath begins.

When you can experience the beginning of the in-breath,

Also be aware of its middle and its end.

Becoming aware of the full length of the in-breath.

Now slowly bring your awareness into your body.

Now see if you can also notice the beginning of each out-breath.

Also experience its middle and its end.

Becoming aware of the full length of each breath.

Now slowly bring your awareness into your body.

Becoming aware of the full length of each breath.

Now slowly start to widen your awareness throughout the whole of your body.

And start to notice how your body responds to breathing.

Now slowly bring your awareness into your body.

Becoming aware of the full length of each breath.

Now slowly bring your awareness into your body.

Seeing that as your breath comes in,

Your body feels expanding outwards.

And as your breath goes out,

Your body deflates relaxing inwards.

Now slowly bring your awareness into your body.

Becoming aware of the full length of each breath.

Becoming aware of the full expansion and deflation of the breath throughout your body.

Now slowly bring your awareness into your body.

Completely aware of the movement of your body as it breathes.

Now slowly bring your awareness into your body.

Now slowly bring your awareness into your body.

As your breath comes in and your body feels expanding outwards,

Allow yourself to open to whatever you are experiencing now.

With each in-breath,

Open to sounds around you.

Open to sounds.

Open to sensations in your body.

Open to thoughts and fantasies.

Open to the state of your mind as you experience it right now.

Open to the state of your mind.

Open to the state of your mind.

As your breath goes out and your body deflates.

Allow yourself to soften,

Relax with that out-breath.

Open to all your senses.

Breath goes out,

Deflating,

Soften.

Listen into everything with that out-breath.

Open.

Soften Ace up to arse Soften still Bringing your awareness back into your body.

Now start to be more aware of the deflation of the outbrah.

Following that out-breath all the way to the end.

Now start to be more aware of the deflation of the outbrah.

Slightly slow down and lengthen that deflation of the out-breath.

Now start to be more aware of the deflation of the outbrah.

Each time the breath goes out,

Abandon all effort.

Now start to be more aware of the deflation of the outbrah.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Calming all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Calm.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Bringing your awareness back into your body.

Now following the out-breath all the way to the end.

See if you can notice the very ending of the out-breath.

Relaxing all effort.

Can you notice the out-breath ending?

Get in the gap between the breaths.

Sitting in the gap,

Wait for the in-breath to begin.

Allow the in-breath to happen naturally by itself.

Relaxing all effort.

Following the out-breath you'll notice it end.

Then a gap.

Then the beginning of the in-breath.

End.

Gap.

Begin.

Allowing your awareness to sit in the gap between the breaths.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Every time your awareness sits in the gap,

Just allow yourself to physically and mentally relax.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Only notice the moment the breath ends.

And the moment the breath arises again.

Relaxing all effort.

You no longer see breathing.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Allow your awareness to sink deeper in the gap.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Drying deeper into this gap.

Relaxing all effort.

Allow the stillness within the gap to grow within you.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Calm.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Still.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing all effort.

Now slowly bringing your awareness back into your body.

Becoming aware of the experience of just sitting here.

Becoming aware of any warmth or coolness within your body.

The heaviness as your body relaxes.

The touch.

Start to become aware of any sounds around you.

Allowing those sounds to come into you.

And when you're ready you can gently open your eyes.

Thank you for spending this time meditating with me.

Take care of yourself and have a wonderful day.

And goodbye.

Reviews

Beautiful progression into tranquility and samadhi.

Thank you! As always so grateful for your guidance.

Thank you! Very peaceful, am accessing better and better states! Love this course, thank you!

Deeply relaxing. This practice made me yawn a lot. It helped me to release anxiety and tension in my body and mind. I had to move my legs a bit due to the pins and needles I experience but it was not too much of a distraction.

Thank you for this deep deep practice. This is day 2 on this meditation. Yesterday I felt so calm, as though I floated through the day. Namaste!

Dear Stephen, lately i am very busy and am pretty tired in general. Then sometimes during the meditation i almost fall asleep when calming the breath. Any hint on that? Thank you.

Very calming experience...thank you

Excited to be on week 11, loved every minute of the guided meditation.

I am on medicatie for AD(H)D. It helps me focus So much more. I wonder if I can ever focus like that without medication. And beside the focus I am also very much more aware. Medication runs out every single day. If I take Some it is Good for 2/3 ours. Than I “need” Again. So it is a yoyo every day. It is oke. But I wanna get rid of the medication And hope all the practice will give me the awareness And focus what I need to have in my life. Without the medication I make the same mistakes over and over again. So what do you think. Can I benefit So much that I can life without the medication?
Beside This it is one hell of a Interesting practice And experience of body / mind and world around me.
So thank you for that!

This was the first time I really lost all contact with the time and was able to let go of the breathing. Great, patient instruction with enough quiet for practice. Thank you so much for these instructions, Stephen.

Just about the best of all I have tried! Thank you. Namaste.

Love this one and contracting into the Heart space ❤️

Wonderful. Softening into the heart center. My body was calm and peaceful. When my mind wondered to thoughts my body became tense. When I placed my attention on contraction into the heart center my mind and body felt still and calm.

I am grateful for the meditation session. It was powerful for me.

With Grateful Thanks,
Namaste

I love the analogy of pushing the swing as I extend my out breath a bit more. This really helps me keep focused on my heart center. It is a real challenge, however, to relax deeper while my diaphragm is pushing that extended breath because I feel my diaphragm contracting, but I am feeling the sinking at the tail end right before I begin the in breath. FYI, anyone reading this post should know that Stephen has a MIDL group in which we are all sharing our experiences. Stephen is a wonderful coach and is guiding us all through the nuances of MIDL practices. I highly recommend joining

Many thanks Stephen for being my guide on this meditative journey. I found contracting in to the heart centre helped me achieve my deepest concentration yet - it was only fleeting but hopefully will get stronger with practice 🙏🙏

This is my fourth day meditating with this lecture. Today I was so deeply relaxed and absorbed in my breath and the softening into my heart-center that I do not warnt to come to an end. The feeling of peace was so strong that nothing matters any longer. Amazing and frightening at the same time!

Wonderful and powerful session! Very relaxing way to start the day! I lost track of time. Thank you again Stephen!

Namaste

Love this series and so committed to continuing. Last week had injury and now muscle spasms go bananas if left unattended ( if not shifting or massaging the areas) and breathing fully amplifies the experience as well. I find my mind is consumed with the softening into and resorting to decreasing the breathe and resorting to massaging the areas trying to breathe into the pain and notice the muscle fibres throbbing while I try to relax the areas. It’s pretty uncomfortable and overwhelming.. do you suggest I back off for a while or go back to week 3? Hard to concentrate on guided instructions. Thanks Stephen for this amazing series. So grateful to you.