TuneIn
Some days feel like a full catastrophe—notifications firing, responsibilities stacking, emotions running hot, and your attention pulled in every possible direction. You may find yourself halfway through the day without ever truly arriving in your own experience.
This week’s episode of the Mindfulness Exercises Podcast, featuring mindfulness teacher George Mumford, offers a plain practice of arriving in the body. Mumford is the author of The Mindful Athlete and has worked with the Chicago Bulls and the LA Lakers. He describes the practice as having no agenda beyond observing yourself as you sit and breathe.
It is a way to reconnect with yourself through contact, breath, and awareness.
Below, we go through the themes of the episode and how the practice can fit into an ordinary day.
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Episode Overview:
George Mumford leads listeners in arriving in the body: sitting with the sternum open and the eyes lightly closed, feeling the body's contact with surfaces, and breathing and knowing it. He draws on the Satipatthana Sutta and describes resting in the body as alert relaxation.
Key Themes:
- Arriving in the body as a way to begin a session
- Using posture, contact points, and breath as anchors
- The Satipatthana Sutta teaching of being aware of the body to the extent that there is a body
- Returning to the body and breath when attention goes to thoughts, images, or the screen
- Resting in alert relaxation: relaxed and alert at the same time, like a silent witness
- Practical cues (sternum open, eyes lightly closed, no need for a cross-legged position)
- Arriving from a full day of other activities
- Continuity of mindfulness, or bare awareness
Anchors Covered:
- Physical contact with surfaces, and the body as a whole from the bottoms of the feet to the top of the head
- Postural awareness (sternum open, relaxed and alert)
- Breathing in and breathing out
- Noticing what the mind is involved in: the body and breath, thoughts, images, sounds
- A steady return to the body and breath
Show Notes:
A Mindfulness Practice for Real, Messy Life
Mumford opens by recalling the premises of his first teacher, Larry Rosenberg: say yes when asked to teach, and teach even if only one person shows up.
He then says that many listeners are probably arriving from some other place or activity, and that most of us have a full plate. Arriving is his name for taking a few minutes to sit, breathe, and be present before spending time together.
He adds that you do not need a cross-legged position; sitting is enough.
Starting with Contact: Feeling the Body That’s Already Here
George Mumford invites listeners to begin by tuning into the body and feeling where it makes contact with surfaces. Contact gives attention something concrete to return to.
From there he asks listeners to notice that they are sitting and breathing, and to know it.
Posture as a Mindfulness Tool
Mumford keeps the posture instruction short:
- Sit; a cross-legged position is not required
- Keep the sternum open
- Close the eyes lightly
Mumford’s cue is an open sternum, held together with the relaxed alertness described below.
Breathing and Knowing It: The Heart of Arrival
The practice centers on sitting and breathing and knowing it, distinguishing between sitting and breathing in and sitting and breathing out:
- Breathing in
- Breathing out
- The body as a whole, from the bottoms of the feet to the fingertips and thumbs and the top of the head
- The sensations of sitting and breathing
Attention is simply sustained on those sensations.
Attention rests in the body and the breath.
When the Mind Wanders: A Soft Return
Mumford expects attention to wander, and says the work is to sustain attention on the sensations of sitting and breathing.
Once in a while, he suggests checking what the mind is involved in: the body and the breath, or thoughts and images. We may need to shift position, or the screen may have pulled attention. The practice is to:
- Notice what the mind is involved in
- Be present to what is happening as it is happening
- Return to the body and the breath
Later in the practice, listeners are invited to keep resting in the body and the breath and to let sounds come and go, arise and fade.
Alert Relaxation: The Sweet Spot of Mindfulness
Mumford describes resting as settling back, relaxed and alert at the same time, like a silent witness:
Alert relaxation, with the body and breath allowed to speak in their own language.
He describes the attitude as:
- Without interpreting
- Without pushing away or pulling toward
- Without trying to make something happen
- Without aiming for an optimal state of mind
- No agenda beyond observing ourselves as we sit and breathe
That, for Mumford, is the whole instruction.
Practical Cues for Daily Life
Arriving is how Mumford opens a session, and the same short pause can be used at other transitions.
Try arriving in the body when:
- You open your laptop
- Someone asks for your attention
- You walk into a meeting
- Your phone buzzes
- You’re waiting in line
- Your patience starts thinning
- You’re shifting from task to task
These small pauses add no tasks to your day.
You’re simply returning to what’s already here: body, breath, sensation.
Building Continuity of Mindfulness, One Moment at a Time
Arriving in the body is a practice to repeat. Mumford speaks of continuity of mindfulness, or bare awareness, while breathing in and breathing out.
People often look to a practice like this for:
- A steadier nervous system
- More emotional choice
- Clearer attention
- Softer reactions
- A deeper sense of presence
- Less overwhelm, even during chaos
Try It Today
If this episode resonated, listen to the full guided practice and try arriving in your body today—even for just one breath or one moment of contact.
Share the episode with someone who could use a grounded reset, and consider leaving a short review telling us:
Which sensation anchored you best?
Your feedback helps more people discover a simple way to return to presence.
Additional Resources:
- Free Training with Sean Fargo: How to Teach Mindfulness With Confidence & Credibility
- Certification: Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification
- Blog: Discover Effortless Mindfulness with Loch Kelly
- Blog: Mindful Reminders for When Life Feels Like Too Much
