“Mindfulness of breathing is a wonderful beginning to cultivating awareness.
It strengthens our ability to concentrate and steadies our tendency to get lost in
reactive emotions and mental preoccupations.”
– Gil Fronsdal, co-founder, Insight Meditation Center
Mindfulness of Breathing is an awareness practice and not a practice in breathing. That is why, when the aim is being mindful, there is no particular way to breathe. That said, if one of your aims is to develop “a safe spot” for you to Return and Rest… allow your breath to be slower and deeper than usual.
As usual, you are welcome to use the guided exercises below OR to create your own mindful breathing experience.
Aim for some combination of 10-minutes a day, accepting the reality that you “hit” or “missed” the make (without further evaluation) at the end of the day.
Please leave a comment in the section below to seal the deal on any experience your may want to reinforce or remember (because you can always refer to your time-stamped Comments later… like you would a journal).
Instructions:
- At the start, announce an aim for yourself… something like, “I’m going to take __ minutes to let go of any concerns and Return and Rest in my breath.” You will have plenty of time to return to your concerns later!
- Use the Guided Exercises or create your own for that amount of time (and no more).
- Keep your attention deliberately focused on the inhalations and exhalations, sensing the physical sensations that accompany them.
- Whenever your mind wanders, gently bring it back to a focus on the breath cycle. No need to judge you or your experience. Simply return to the breath without encouraging evaluation.
- At the end, take a couple of minutes reflect on your experience.
Guided Exercises
- 1-min Breathing Space
- 3-min Breathing Space
- 5-min Breathing Space
- 7-min Breathing Space
- 10-min Breathing Space
© Copyright 2013 Maria Hunt
