TuneIn
How often do we pause to set our focus on the breath with a caring and curious mind? The breath is perhaps the most consistent process and presence in our lives, and yet so often goes unnoticed.
In this guided meditation with Sean Fargo, we’re invited to answer the open-ended question, ‘How does this one breath feel, right now?’ Breath awareness is a common foundation for steady, spacious attention.
Please listen in a safe, quiet place where you can be relatively free from distraction. Find a posture that balances comfort with alertness, whether standing, seated, or lying down. May this meditation be of benefit to you in your practice.
Sponsored by our Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification: MindfulnessExercises.com/Certification
The breath is always with us, ever-present as an anchor for our distracted, wandering mind. Placing our attention on the breath can help settle both mind and body.
In this guided meditation, we use mindfulness of the breath as a means of grounding and settling into the practice and also as the intention of the meditation itself. With caring curiosity, we explore how the breath feels in each and every moment.
In meditation, it’s common to become most aware of the breath as it passes in and out of the nose, as it moves through the chest and belly, or as a whole body sensation. We might ask ourselves if the breath is short or long, shallow or deep, or if it is steady and balanced.
There is no particular way to breathe. The practice is noticing how we are breathing in this one moment. As we sit and pay attention, we may also observe changes to the breath, or an increasing depth regarding what it is that we notice.
In lieu of simply trying not to judge the breath, the instruction to apply caring curiosity gives us an indication of how we might place our attention. To focus on the breath with curiosity is to observe without interfering, to notice without needing to fix.
By continuously asking, ‘How does this breath feel?’ we practice staying in this space of curiosity. With a curious, open state of mind, we deepen our mindfulness of this present moment. With practice, we may build the capacity to offer this same non-judgmental awareness to the whole body, to ourselves, and to others.
Expand your perspective of mindfulness of the breath with these additional free mindfulness resources:
- Podcast: Sean Fargo on The Power of Breath Awareness
- Podcast: Why Sean Fargo Recommends Mindfulness of Breathing
- Guided Meditation: Caring Curiosity Meditation, with Sean Fargo
- Guided Meditation: Grounding, Calming Breath Meditation, with Sean Fargo
- Guided Meditation: Anchoring In Breath And Body: Meditation With Sean Fargo
- Guided Meditation: Breath Awareness Meditation with Sean Fargo
- Blog: 10 Tips for Teaching Mindfulness of Breathing Practices
- Meditation Script: Mindfulness of Breath
- Mindfulness Worksheet: Breathing
- Video: Tara Brach on Mindfulness of Breath
- Audio: Mindfulness of the Breath with Tara Brach
About Sean Fargo:
Sean Fargo is a former Buddhist monk who founded Mindfulness Exercises and leads the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification.
