Welcome to returning to your breath.
This meditation is really simple and I'm keeping it really simple deliberately because I want you to be able to take this with you wherever you are whenever you need a little bit of inner peace,
Whenever you need the mind to just quieten down a little bit just to be able to return to your breath and just feel that little bit of inner peace that you already have but is often covered over by so much thinking and stress and anxiety and busyness that we don't very often see it.
So wiggle yourself into a comfortable position if you're looking at this on the phone just place the phone down next to you and just become aware of your breath you don't need to do anything with your breath your body knows how to breathe it's been doing it without you for a long time allow your shoulders to relax allow your face and your arms and your eyes and your mouth and your chin your bum and your legs allow them all to relax and again just as your breath your body knows how to relax and by keeping your awareness on your breath but not doing anything with it you're just embracing this moment embracing this moment for everything it is and the moment very often is just fine you don't need to do anything with it just breathing in calm breathing out relax and you may notice your breath naturally slows down your body naturally relaxes into this moment just the same as your mind naturally quietens and if you find your mind does wander just give it a gentle smile thank you for the thought thank you for the story but just invite it to sit with you be here with me we're just breathing we're just breathing have been at one with the mind and body the spirit this moment this room the place where you are and notice in the smallest possible way that when you breathe you change the whole universe just consider that for the moment every peaceful gentle breath changes the whole universe and just by allowing this moment to be whole and complete without adding to it without making it more complex and just keeping it as simple as what it is now the peacefulness goes throughout your whole body you may feel it in a different part for me it's in my heart and just below in my belly I just feel this peacefulness that's calming and and every breath just feels like a connection to the world around me when I breathe in the universe breathes out and when I breathe out the universe breathes in and it's that perfect balance with every breath and what's important to remember is this is always available to you whether you're driving somewhere in a car or you're about to go into a meeting or the children are pulling at your hand nagging you for something whatever the pressures are you can still take a breath and allow your awareness to drop from the sense of urgency and doing and busyness to a place of wisdom and openness and calmness and from this area from this place it's not a disconnection the other place is disconnection this place is a deep connection and with this connection we can make wiser decisions we stay calmer we are more in touch we have more compassion can you feel that now?
Which one feels wiser which one feels more compassionate and open and loving the busyness of before or the quietness of now like Thich Nhat Hanh said just returning to the breath is like kissing the floor with every step you take there's a peacefulness and calmness about it and i'm going to leave you focus on your breath for a couple of minutes i will keep an eye on the time and if your mind wanders just bring it back to your breath and allow yourself to go deeper and more calm and i will be back soon so how was that for you did you manage to remain calm or did your mind start to wander both of those things are natural your mind's evolved to think to wander to make up things to keep an eye out and the breath is just evolved to breathe to keep you alive keep you energized to give you all the things it needs so in a moment i'm going to count back from five five we'll return to the room so five four gently open your eyes three shake out your arms two just stretch a little bit look around the room and just just consider how much more relaxed you're feeling now compared to before your body knows how to relax you don't have to do it you just have to give it permission your mind knows how to become quieter again if you try to quieten your mind or try not to have a thought they'll come racing even faster the idea is to give your mind something to do the idea is to appreciate your breath and from this deeper sense wisdom will come wisdom is knowing ourselves that's probably the deepest form of wisdom you'll ever have is getting to know yourself and this is where just returning to your breath returning to what's going on inside your body at any given moment it's really that's the that's the whole recipe that's everything you need to become more calm to suffer less for the body to heal for the mindfulness gateway to connect with the world and that symbol of life itself the breath i'm stephen webb and thank you for your support i really appreciate it
