Embodied Mindfulness Meditation

This is a great Breathwork and Meditation session for connecting the mind with the body and cultivating a deep sense of calm awareness in your everyday life. This is also a great tool for transitioning into sleep which will allow you to feel more rested and restored.

Transcript

Sitting down,

Finding a comfortable seat,

Whether you're on the floor,

A meditation cushion or even a chair.

Feeling the feet on the floor,

Feeling your body in your seat,

Making sure your hips are slightly higher than the knees,

Relaxing through the tailbone,

Relax the chest,

Feel the spine rising,

As if the gentle string is holding the head up,

That elongation of the spine.

The shoulders are relaxed and down,

The chin is slightly tucked,

Ears stay over the shoulders,

And the hands just resting comfortably,

Either palms down above the knees or palms up,

Or just gently one hand folded in the other in the lap,

Or you just connect really quick to the feeling of the spine rising,

And everything relaxed around the rising spine.

Bring your awareness to the breath,

Not trying to control the breath or manipulate the breath,

Just being with the inhale and exhale.

Feel the diaphragm engage as you breathe in,

The expansive feeling of the lower abdomen and even the whole torso as you breathe in,

And on the exhale feeling of just relaxing and letting go.

Now before we begin,

Also bring to mind an intention of what qualities you want to cultivate during this practice,

Perhaps more mindfulness,

Infusing your life with a greater level of kindness and compassion,

Perhaps the ability to be non-judgmental and to let go and let be.

And also dedicate this practice to people around you,

Loved ones,

Family members,

Friends,

Maybe even just neutral people,

Or even possibly people that you have problems with.

So coming into the breath,

We're going to start off with some guided breath work.

So bring your awareness into the body,

And first this three-step yogic breathing.

Step one,

The whole lower abdomen expands like a balloon,

The diaphragm engages,

The belly swells,

Slight movement through the lower back,

The sides,

And as you exhale as if the whole balloon just lets go,

Letting go.

So as you inhale,

Belly,

Slight movement lower back and the sides,

Expanding,

And as you exhale as if you're just letting go of all the air.

Feel free to big long exhalations.

And now just like an ocean wave,

We're going to be feeling this embodied mindfulness,

Embodied presence with the breath,

The breath coming up in the body.

So start with your exhale,

Now as you inhale,

And like an ocean wave it gets bigger,

Starts low down in the lower belly,

And as you feel the sides expand,

Feel that expansion rise up to the ribs,

As if the ribs are just floating outwards like the wings of an eagle,

And release.

Once again,

The breath starts deep,

Diaphragm engages,

Lower belly,

Lower back,

Sides,

And rise,

And release.

Finally,

Bringing up to the third step,

The upper back and upper chest,

But like an ocean wave,

It starts down low in the sea and rises.

The expansion should feel horizontal as well as vertical.

So as you breathe in,

Lower abdomen expands,

Sideway expansion of the ribs,

Feel the breath through the back of the upper lungs,

And as soon as you feel any movement in the upper chest,

It's time to release and let go.

Breathing in through the nose,

On the exhale,

It's up to you.

Feel that vertical and horizontal expansion of the torso on the inhale,

And on the exhale,

Just as if the wave breaks,

Release and let go.

Now we're going to introduce a bit of counting here,

What they call the coherent breath or the optimal breathing,

Which is about five and a half seconds on the in,

Five and a half seconds on the exhale,

For about five and a half breaths per minute.

This is a circular breath,

So we're not looking to hold the breath at the top of the in or the bottom of the out.

I'll start us off with some counting and then we'll do some on our own.

So start with an exhale,

Now breathing in,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Exhale,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Inhale,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Exhale,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

And do that for about four more on your own.

And you can let go of the counting and just be in the body,

Feel the breath in the body.

Next,

We're going to introduce the sound,

The sound of OM,

The cosmic vibration.

So you're going to be breathing in the same way we just did this three-step yogic breath,

The whole torso expanding,

Rising in an outward quality,

And then on the exhale,

The sound of OM.

Just draw out that exhale,

That sound of OM for as long as you comfortably can.

Inhale,

Quiet.

So once again,

I'll do two and then four on your own.

So start with an exhale and breathing in,

OM,

And again.

And out,

OM,

And four more.

And now we'll let go of the counting,

Let go of the sound,

And just be with this mindfulness of breathing.

But bring your awareness to the body.

And as you inhale,

Be with this feeling of expanding.

And as you exhale,

Just letting go,

Letting go of any tension,

Any worry,

Or anxiety,

Or stress.

So inhale,

Feel the torso expand,

Three-step breath,

And on the exhale,

Just letting go.

And if you'd like,

You could say that subaudibly to yourself,

Expanding on the inhale,

Letting go on the exhale.

Let's do four breaths like that.

Let's do one more breath with this expanding and letting go.

Remember,

If the mind wanders,

No problem,

No judgment.

Just note the mind wandering and bring it in with the next breath,

Expanding and letting go.

Now we let go of the breathing technique.

Drop into this open,

Effortless awareness.

Let your mind and your attention go to wherever it needs to go.

It might stay on feelings in the body,

Might be on the breath or sounds around you,

Even thoughts or feelings,

Everything is okay.

Cultivate in a sense of noting and letting go.

Be non-judgmental,

Curious,

Expansive,

And open.

Nothing to do,

Just don't get lost.

Just do this for about one minute.

Moving from doing to being,

Just being in the body.

Noting that everything and anything could be the object of our awareness in our meditation practice.

And as we slowly exit out of the practice,

Bring to mind someone in your life,

Someone close to you,

Family member,

Friend,

Or work colleague.

Could be even someone you're having difficulty with,

Or just someone going through a hard time.

We're going to bring them into our mind's eye and work with the four immeasurables.

So first,

Bring in a feeling of kindness.

And you could say something like,

May you be free of suffering.

May you be happy and well.

The second is bring forth a feeling of compassion for them.

And you could say something like,

May you be free of any pain,

Psychological,

Emotional,

Physical pain,

Or discomfort.

The third is bring forth the feeling of joy.

May you experience joy in your everyday life,

Happiness,

Laughter,

From simple everyday life experiences.

And finally,

A feeling of equanimity.

May you experience a deep sense of contentment,

Not dependent on external circumstances,

The ups and downs,

The good and bads,

That you could connect to a deep sense within yourself of simple,

Genuine joy and peace.

And as you come out of the practice,

Bring forth those four immeasurables to yourself of being kind,

Self-compassionate,

Joy,

And equanimity.