MIDL: Experiencing The Natural Breath

In MIDL Mindfulness Meditation Training 6/52 you begin mindfulness of breathing by creating the conditions to observe habitual control within the breathing itself. Breathing makes a wonderful meditation object for observing control because it can be intentionally controlled or happen autonomously. To decondition habitual control in this training you simply breathe out, relax and wait for the breath to draw in by itself.

Insight Timer Group: MIDL Mindfulness Meditation

Transcript

During this mindfulness training we will develop the skill of observing breathing free from control.

Start out by taking your meditation posture.

Now close your eyes over lightly and start to be aware of what it feels like just to be here.

Becoming aware of any sounds around you.

Now gently bringing your awareness into your body.

Into the experience of just sitting here.

Now close your eyes.

Becoming aware of any warmth or coolness within your body.

Putting them gently in mind.

Also become aware of the place where your body touches the chair or the floor.

Grounding.

Now open your awareness to your whole body just sitting here.

Relax your chest and belly.

Allow your breathing to flow freely.

Feeling the flow of sensations within the breathing.

The breath comes in.

The breath goes out.

All the way in.

And all the way out.

And all the way out.

Now we're going to start a training to learn how to observe your natural breathing free from control,

Free from strain.

Bringing your awareness to the natural flow of the whole breath within your body.

Mentally feeling this flow.

The breath comes in.

The breath goes out.

And all the way out.

On the next out breath I'd like you to gently breathe out all the way and wait for the breath to come in by itself.

Notice that when the breath comes in by itself it is now smooth,

Relaxed and light.

It's your breathing free from control,

A natural breath.

Now,

Notice any tightness or tension that starts to appear within your breathing.

Tightness or tension is a sign of habitual control or of over effort during the meditation.

On the next out breath gently breathe out,

Relax and wait.

Waiting for the breath to come in naturally.

When the breath draws in naturally by itself,

Notice its lightness,

Its smoothness,

Its clarity and beauty.

How long can you observe the natural breath for without interfering with it?

Now notice any tension or tension that starts to appear within your breathing.

Notice any tightness or tension appearing within your breathing.

Mentally feeling it.

On the next out breath gently breathe out,

Relax and wait for the breath to come in naturally by itself.

Each time you do this,

See how long you can observe the breathing without interfering with it,

Without changing it in any way.

Without a tightening.

Can you notice any tightness or tension within the flow of your breathing?

Tightness or tension is a sign of habitual control.

Can you feel any tightness or tension around the base of your throat?

Maybe in your upper chest or belly?

If so,

Relax.

Now notice any tension or tension between your body and your body.

Any time you notice any mental effort or strain,

Relax that effort,

Relax that strain.

Soften into the tension.

Now notice any tension or tension between your body and your body.

Notice that when you soften the watching,

Relax the watching,

There is a softening of the breathing itself.

Notice this relationship between the relaxing of the watching,

The relaxing of the breathing,

The relaxing of the doing,

The relaxing of the body and the breath.

Now notice any tension or tension between the body and the breathing.

Now start to tune into the flow of the complete breath within your body.

Mentally feeling the flow.

Becoming present within your breathing.

Now notice any tension or tension between your body and your body.

Allowing this presence to make you very still and calm.

Now notice any tension or tension between your body and your body.

Allowing the stillness and calmness to arise within you.

Now notice any tension or tension between your body and your body.

Now notice any tension or tension between your body and your body.

Feeling this natural flow of the breathing throughout your body.

Relaxing all effort.

Relaxing at the end of each out breath.

Relaxing at the end of each out breath.

Each time you relax at the end of the out breath,

Relax and wait for the breath to draw in by itself again.

Experiencing the natural breath.

Relaxing at the end of each out breath.

Relaxing at the end of each out breath.

Relaxing at the end of each out breath.

Relaxing at the end of each out breath.

Relaxing at the end of each out breath.

Now bringing your awareness back into your body.

Becoming aware of the experience of just being here.

Becoming aware of any warmth or coolness within your body,

Holding them gently in mind.

Also becoming aware of the place where your body touches the chair or the floor,

Grounded.

Now start to be aware of any sounds around you,

Just 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.

Have a wonderful day.

And goodbye.

Reviews

Wonderful practice focusing on our natural breath. Much love and gratitude for creating this practice. ❤️🙏

This mediation has created new space to observe where I can grow. I suspect the MIDL experience will help deepen total awareness in and out of practice. Thank you 🙏

Feeling very relaxed. I was harbouring a lot of tension which eased with this meditation. Plan to do this regularly over the next few days. Thank you!

I love this meditation. So very relaxing. Your voice is so soothing. 🙏

I've always struggled with controlling the breath. The technique of "waiting" for the next in-breath to arrive was incredibly helpful!

Thank you for your gentle, safe, accessible teachings. My compassionate awareness is growing and I’m starting to be able to soften and let go at times in my daily life. I hope to join your virtual class one day soon! Until then, thank you Stephen for sharing your gift and for offering your teachings on Insight Timer.

Great guided meditation. Feel extremely relaxed now

Hey stephan I was constantly feeling heavyness in my chest while doing breath work how can I relax this....
Btw one of the best teacher ❤️

Super relaxing. Easy to follow. Teacher has calm energy. 💜

I am finding this so hard! As soon as I pay attention to my breath I can feel myself trying to control it. Then trying to not try. Clearly it’s something I really need to practice!

I found this challenging but very rewarding. This exercise has much to teach me. I’m looking forward to this week’s practice. .

Great breath work! Loved brining my awareness to it and the stillness at the end of my breath. Thank you for this course!

Dear Stephen,
Another phase of MIDL begun, day 1 of week 6. Such a peaceful delivery... I found myself drifting off toward unconsciousness a couple of times and mindful of the drift, coming back to my natural breathing. Thank you for your time and generous offering of this path. I am grateful... Namaste 🙏

Great practice, and yet very different from the previous one. Maybe that’s why I experienced some difficulty not pushing the belly donwards on the out breath...do you have any tips on how to relax the out breath and still experience the complete movement? When I tried relaxing the belly, it seemed to me that the complete breath movement became shorter...

Thanks again, Stephen!

Stephen insists once and again on coming back the mind to natural breath, very usefull for practice. Thanks

🙏🏻 simple brilliancy. Thank you so much

Thank you for reminding me the basics!
Just being with the breath,
One breath at a time.
So calming and spacious!

This is a new meditation for me. I need to practice more and more. I noticed sometimes my breath was natural and other times there was a desire to control it. I did notice heaviness in my body and I feel more relaxed. Thank you Stephen.

Going through these weekly meditations sequentially is very helpful and the 2020 challenge to go through all 52 with Stephen available for comments/questions is terrific.
I’m feeling motivated and grateful for the experience!

Very relaxing and calming as this builds on weeks 1 through 5. Very grateful for this patient and detailed, kind and gentle teaching by Stephen. Really helpful to be practicing with Stephen and the group.