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Introduction

Good day, everyone, and welcome to our meditation time together at the beginning of the week.

As a very brief overview of this practice of mindfulness of breathing, it begins with a training in attention. In a sense, attention or awareness sits at the middle of this practice. Establishing this attention and mindfulness—and helping establish it more consistently, more thoroughly, and more fully—is centered on breathing. Attention on breathing stays at the center.

As the capacity to stay more in the present moment and more continuously with the breathing grows, then either intentionally or as a byproduct of that settling of attention, awareness begins to expand and open up to include more. It includes the body and the feelings of the body, and eventually the mind. There is a natural order to it that moves outwards.

All along, we are staying with the breathing. We're keeping breathing at the center. It's like having a home base or having a secure place from which to be free, so we do not get wrapped up or caught in things. We stay with the natural rhythm of breathing, where we have to let go constantly. We accept the new in-breath, and we let go of the old breath. We're learning to keep the mind and the heart relaxed, soft, and free as we begin to open up into areas of our life that might be more difficult, and where we are more likely to get caught and entangled.

So, the continuity of staying with the breath is a way of maintaining an effective attention to the rest of our minds and the rest of our being. Attention to the body and being centered in the body makes it easier to be attentive to the mind. This week, we will begin moving more closely into aspects of the mind.

Guided Meditation: Accompanying Mental Activity

To begin, establish yourself in your place of meditation. Take a few moments to really feel—maybe sway back and forth, rock a little bit—to really feel the contact where your body is supported from the pull of gravity. Be in that contact in a way that feels supportive and solid. Then, gently close your eyes.

Because attention and intention can be closely related, it's helpful at the very beginning to do some intentional breathing. Just for a little bit—not the whole time, not really loud or anything—but just as a way of beginning to orient oneself to the breathing and beginning to let go of other things.

Very gently, let yourself breathe more deeply. Maybe three-quarters full. You don't have to fill your lungs entirely; two-thirds full, three-quarters full, whatever feels easy for you to do. Take a fuller breath than usual, but not too much. Then, as you exhale, exhale slowly. Not too slowly, but just exhale slowly so the exhale is longer than the inhale.

As you inhale a little more deeply and fully, let that filling of the lungs also be a feeling of attention in different places of your body where there is tension. In the long, slower exhale, let that be a draining of that tension. Let your attention roam around your body as you breathe in, bringing awareness into places of tension or holding, and relaxing with the long exhale.

It can be especially useful to soften the shoulders and the belly. Let the belly hang out, forward a little bit, and maybe down. Also, as you exhale, maybe there could be a global relaxation of the whole body.

Continuing with taking an in-breath, which is maybe a little bit more full than usual—it doesn't have to be two-thirds or three-quarters full, just a little bit more—and with an exhale that's a little bit more intentionally slow and long. Just a little bit.

Then, begin to count your exhales up to ten. As you count, one number for each exhale, maybe you can say that number in the way that you would delightfully and happily say the word "yes" to something. Use that tone of voice, softly, quietly, but with an uplifting, happy intonation. One. Two.

If you lose count, no worry. Just start over again at one. Doing this counting is a way of beginning to settle the attention down into the experience of breathing. The counting is a way of giving the thinking mind something to think, so the rest of your thinking can become quieter and fall away.

If you'd like, you can continue with the counting, but let the breathing be really natural now. Or you can let go of the counting entirely. As you breathe, feel the whole body as you breathe, in whatever way the global experience of the body is easy to experience. It doesn't literally have to be all of it, just as globally as is available. Maybe it's as if breathing is a massage that moves through this global body.

As you experience the global body, become aware also of anything that's pleasant or enjoyable that comes from doing the meditation. It could be very mild. Sometimes in meditation there's nothing, but if there is, breathe with that. Include that in the breathing—the breathing that moves through the global body. Breathe with the pleasure and the enjoyment.

Feeling a present-moment well-being encourages the mind to become quieter, thinking less, and more able to experience what's happening here and now in the body breathing. Breathing with the contentment of the body, and the calmness.

As you're breathing now, on this basis of being rooted in your body and maybe feeling some well-being, become aware also of the sensations associated with the mind and its activities—in particular, with thinking. There might be some sensations of tension, pressure, or contraction. Maybe an ache, or maybe agitation or excitement. Or maybe the mental activity is characterized by some emotion or mood.

Whatever sensations characterize the mind and how the mind is active and involved, let it completely be that way. There is no need to make it any different, but let that be known. As you breathe with it, stay rooted in your breathing. In a simple, easy way, know the sensations connected to the thinking mind. Breathe through those sensations.

Staying rooted in your breathing, breathing with the sensations of body and mind, be unconcerned with the details of what you're thinking or what you're feeling. Be unconcerned with the why. Just for these simple minutes, breathe with the physical sensations of thinking, feeling, and emoting, as if those sensations have complete permission to be there. You just breathe with it.

Instead of thinking about or fixing anything, mindfulness of breathing is just to breathe with what's here, with a kind of intimacy or closeness. A calm, careful willingness to just breathe with what is here, trusting that that's enough. For these few minutes, just breathe with the sensations of the body, and sensations of the mind.

Reflections

As we come to the end of the sitting and turn our attention to the world outside of ourselves, one of the profound things we can do for others is to accompany them. If we learn to accompany ourselves—just breathing with our experience, allowing our experience, whatever it might be, to be there and unfold itself the way it wants to unfold, while just accompanying it—maybe it also teaches us how to accompany others without getting tense or activated.

To be able to offer a kind, supportive presence that allows others to relax and allows others to be themselves. It allows others to be more attuned to themselves so that they can move to greater health.

As we end this meditation, may we dedicate the benefit and merit of this practice to accompanying others. Our goodness, our calmness, our friendship. Without being too complicated or too ambitious about what we can do for others, accompanying them can be one of the great gifts. As we learn to accompany ourselves, may we better accompany others.

With the wish and the aspiration that all beings may be happy. All beings may be safe. All beings may feel respected. All beings may be peaceful. And that all beings everywhere may be free.