Mindfulness of the Physique: Breath Consciousness

The Buddha stated: “There may be one factor that, when cultivated and repeatedly practiced, results in deep religious intention, to peace, to mindfulness, and clear comprehension to imaginative and prescient and information, to a cheerful life right here and now, and to the fruits of knowledge. And what’s that one factor? Mindfulness centered on the physique.”

Most religious programs take into account issues of the physique to be subservient to these of the thoughts and coronary heart. However within the observe of mindfulness, consciousness of the physique is essentially the most essential basis. If you wish to be actually current, mindfulness of the physique is important. The physique is at all times within the current. It could possibly’t be in any other case. Once we are awake in our our bodies, we’re actually within the right here and now.

Within the Satipatthana Sutta, the sutta on the observe of mindfulness, there are thought of to be 4 foundations of mindfulness. I launched these in a earlier put up. I take into account mindfulness of the physique to be the “basis of the foundations.” It is because all the things we expertise on this life is skilled as sensation within the physique. At any given second, there are six issues we will pay attention to: seeing, listening to, smelling, tasting, feeling or touching, and considering. All these are skilled as sensations in our our bodies.

Breath Consciousness: Anchoring Mindfulness of the Physique

How will we observe mindfulness of the physique? The foundational observe of mindfulness of the physique is breath consciousness. People breathe a mean of 23,000 occasions a day. Our our bodies do that all on their very own, with out our steering or consciousness. Nevertheless, we will use our respiration as an anchor for our consciousness.

Usually, after we sit right down to observe mindfulness, it may be tempting to resolve to be aware for the whole interval of observe—10, 20, half-hour or extra. When our minds inevitably slip off into considering, usually inside seconds of sitting right down to observe, we will really feel like giving up. As an alternative of committing to one thing that’s doubtless unattainable, I counsel training this straightforward, and highly effective, method:

Firstly of every inhalation and exhalation, decide to being conscious of simply this inhalation, and simply this exhalation. That’s it. You merely recommit to being conscious of every a part of the breath because it arises.

I really feel lucky to have realized this instruction early on in my observe, greater than 30 years in the past. I nonetheless use it, just about day-after-day.

The right way to Observe Mindfulness of the Physique and Breath

1. Sit comfortably on a meditation cushion or chair.
2. Shut your eyes, or depart them barely open and take a look at the bottom a foot or two in entrance of you.
3. Tune into your respiration, feeling it in your physique.
4. As you turn out to be conscious of your respiration, observe if there’s an space within the respiration passage the place the breath feels most clear for you. This could possibly be your nostrils, chest or stomach. Settle your consciousness there and easily really feel the sensations of inhaling that space.
5. Decide to staying conscious of simply this inhalation, after which simply this exhalation.
6. When your thoughts wanders off, which it more than likely will, whenever you discover it, merely redirect your consciousness again to your breath. You could want to do that many, many occasions in your observe. Every time you discover your thoughts has turn out to be misplaced, and also you convey your self again to the breath, you’re slowly however absolutely growing a behavior of being current. So don’t despair in case you discover your thoughts wandering off many occasions throughout a observe. In some ways, the observe is about noticing that your thoughts has turn out to be distracted, and regularly corralling it again to your breath.

Refining Breath Consciousness

There are a number of different conventional methods that may assist you refine your consciousness of the breath. You may add these to your breath consciousness as a approach of framing your observe:

• Discover whether or not your inhalations and exhalations are comparatively brief or comparatively lengthy.
• Concentrate on the start, center and finish of every inhalation and exhalation.
• As you inhale and exhale, make the suggestion to calm the physique and calm the thoughts. For instance you’ll be able to observe: inhaling-calm, exhaling-calm.

Mindfulness of the Physique: A Large Topic

Once I started scripting this put up, I supposed to incorporate all of the other ways of training mindfulness of the physique. However after I bought into the weeds of it, I spotted that it’s too massive a topic for a single put up. In future posts, we’ll discover different methods of training mindfulness of the physique. For now, let the easy breath be your mindfulness anchor.

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and started 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 Purple Rock Rondo, whose DVD gained two Emmy awards in 2010.