Breath Consciousness: A Calming Observe

We’ve all seen idealized photos of meditation. Maybe it’s a younger lady on a abandoned seaside, arms in a meditation-friendly mudra, having fun with a sundown. Or perhaps it’s a picture just like the one on the high of this put up—an individual with serene countenance, fingering mala beads in deep contemplation. It’s true that meditation might be peaceable. However typically, it’s marked by cascading ideas and reminiscences, uncooked feelings and/or bodily discomfort. It’s necessary to keep in mind that in mindfulness apply, the latter expertise doesn’t imply you’re doing one thing improper. These ideas, reminiscences, feelings and discomforts are merely what’s current. They’re, in a really actual sense, what there’s to be aware of. However when these experiences develop into overwhelming, mindfulness has an answer: a breath consciousness apply designed to calm the physique and thoughts.

After I train mindfulness programs, many new meditators doubt their potential to apply. They’ll say, “Each time I sit right down to meditate, my thoughts goes loopy. My considering amps up greater than ever.” To that, I inform them that they’re not considering extra once they meditate; they’re as an alternative observing for the primary time what’s been occurring of their minds all alongside. I clarify that mindfulness just isn’t about stopping your ideas. It’s about coping with your ideas in a skillful method.

We might be aware of the course of of considering, as an alternative of getting caught up within the content material of our tales, reminiscences, worries and dramas. Mindfulness of considering is definitely one of many 4 foundations of mindfulness. However typically, we have to gradual the method down in order that we might be with the considering course of with extra equanimity. That’s the place the breath consciousness apply I’m about to explain might be invaluable.

Breath Consciousness to the Rescue

On an 18-day retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Heart a couple of years in the past, this breath consciousness method helped me navigate what I can solely describe as a “huge reminiscence dump.” Beginning within the wee hours of the morning one night time, reminiscences started flowing, utterly uncontrolled, at a tempo I didn’t assume doable. Life occasions I hadn’t considered in a long time have been flashing by means of my consciousness nonstop, and at warp pace. None of it was traumatic, nevertheless it turned exhausting after some time.

After a number of hours of experiencing this reminiscence dump, I remembered a breath consciousness apply that I assumed may be capable to gradual issues down a bit. It’s a quite simple apply that I’d heard on an instruction CD by writer/Perception Meditation instructor Joseph Goldstein. After just some minutes of apply, the entire rapid-fire film slowed down, and I felt a deep sense of calm.

The right way to Observe Calming Breath Consciousness

1. Collect your props: a Meditation Cushion and Zabuton. If you happen to don’t have a Zabuton, you’ll be able to place your Meditation Cushion on high of a pair folded Yoga Blankets for additional padding beneath your knees or ankles.
2. Loosen up into your sitting place and tune into your respiratory. Discover the place you are feeling your breath most clearly—nostrils, chest or stomach—and let your consideration relaxation there. Really feel the method of respiratory, noting every inhalation and exhalation.
3. Now, as you inhale, make a delicate suggestion to calm the physique and calm the thoughts. Do the identical in your subsequent exhalation. After I apply this, I merely say to myself “calm” every time I inhale and “calm” every time I exhale.
4. Really feel your physique/thoughts receiving this suggestion with every inhalation and exhalation.
5. Observe this so long as you want. You possibly can apply for a couple of rounds initially of your meditation, or you’ll be able to apply it for your complete length.

This breath consciousness apply could seem too easy to be efficient, however I’ve discovered it to be an important software in my meditation toolbox. You possibly can apply it any time—whenever you’re feeling impatient whereas sitting at a stoplight, whenever you’re within the midst of a difficult scenario, whenever you’re feeling stress or anxiousness, whenever you’re mendacity awake at night time, and naturally, when your thoughts is wandering throughout meditation. You possibly can apply it initially or finish of your yoga apply. It’s an particularly good option to start your Savasana (Ultimate Rest).

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and commenced instructing in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Aware Yoga, Aware Life: A Information for On a regular basis Observe and Yoga for Meditators, each revealed by Rodmell Press. Her third e book is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and folks sextet Pink Rock Rondo, whose DVD gained two Emmy awards.