--- ai_generation_date: '2026-10-01' ai_model: gemini-3-pro-preview audiodharma: talks: - date: '2021-01-06' mp3_url: https://audiodharma.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/talks/12704/20210106-Gil_Fronsdal-IMC-guided_meditation_here_with_breathing.mp3 speakers: - speaker_name: Gil Fronsdal speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/1 talk_start_time_seconds: 0 title: 'Guided Meditation: "Here" with Breathing' url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12704 video_unavailable: false location_city: Redwood City, CA video_unavailable: false youtube: id: Qs0W0dJO6BE imprecise_upload_date: '2021-05-04' title: 'Guided Meditation: "Here" with Breathing' upload_date: null uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs0W0dJO6BE --- # Guided Meditation: "Here" with Breathing - [Gil Fronsdal](https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/1) _This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers._ ## [Guided Meditation: "Here" with Breathing](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12704) Good day. Warm greetings, and here we are. As some of you know, I consider the expression "here we are" to be a profound statement: that here, in this place, this time, definitively so. And the task of mindfulness is as simple as clearly knowing, fully knowing, that we are here without any distraction, without any question, without any doubt. And then to discover that it's actually quite beneficial to be rooted and connected to _here_. I like this expression _here_ so well that sometimes when my mind is distracted and has lots of thoughts as I sit down to meditate, I'll use that as a little statement that I say to myself. I'll just say, "Here," in a kind way, a supportive way, and not a command like maybe you would to a dog. Just "here." It's a recognition that I'm here. And in that recognition, then in saying that word, I'm curious: what is here? It's more like I say the word "here" and then I open my attention up to notice what is here without any preference or idea of what's supposed to reveal itself. If my mind is really busy and that's the predominant thing going on, then I become aware of _here_. Here, there's a mind that's busy, that's thinking a lot. I make it that simple, and then I'll say it again: "Here." And _here_ is grounding, and it's also opening. Okay, let's see what is _here_. And I'll do that repeatedly if my mind is busy, maybe for five minutes at the beginning of a sitting. In this kind of grounding _here_, simply recognizing what is here without it needing to be different, something begins to settle. I start to not invest so much energy in the preoccupations I have, and it's almost like there's a room then for things to settle or to allow. This idea of giving room to experience, to let it settle here. Then eventually, after about five minutes or so, I'll find myself—now I'm here, and I could stop saying the word "here." So this idea of being rooted here, with attention open and aware. And then once we're here, to be here with the breathing. Not so much that we're directing our attention to the breathing at the exclusion of everything else, but more like breathing is at the center of the universe. Our personal universe, the center of our being. It's the source from which radiates awareness—the awareness of sensory, physical sensations. So to really rest here in these sensations of breathing, and then let that feel like it's the center from which everything else radiates and happens. It's less a directing to the breath as maybe an awakening to breathing, or an emergence from breathing. Allow awareness to emerge from here in this breathing. So, take a meditation posture in which you can establish your ability to be here, establish yourself _here_. We don't want to be too casual in sitting down to meditate. It's helpful if, in a nice, easy way, but not a casual way, there's a definitiveness to taking your spot, to taking your place in this place, here for the meditation. Be clear on the very spot that you're meditating in. Feel the contact of your body against the spot, wherever the pull of gravity no longer pulls the body down further, but where it stops against some relatively hard surface: your seat, your cushion, the floor, your bed. Here, definitively. And then, in order to support this definitive sense of "yes, here I am," there's a way to gently, calmly, but definitively close your eyes. As if closing your eyes is another step towards this definitiveness, this clarity: "Yes, I am here. I'm no longer in yesterday, no longer in the plans of later, no longer in my fantasies, other places, and other times. I am here." This definitiveness of being here can continue with long, slow, deep breaths. It might be just three, or it might be more that you take in order to begin the meditation. You might even say the word "here" to yourself as you exhale, and then let your breathing return to normal. As you exhale, see if you can relax parts of your body. Connect to a part of the body as you inhale, and relax it as you exhale. Occasionally, some people find the word "melting" to be helpful as a concept for this relaxing. Relaxing or melting the tensions of your face, as if your muscles can melt away, fall away from the skull. Even if you feel some tension in your face—activation from a lifetime of always smiling, or squinting, or tensing—if you can't relax it, it's okay. There is a kind of relaxation that happens when you just hold it gently. The tensions of the body, allow them to be there and allow them to be known on the exhale. Relaxing the shoulders, adjusting the hands a little bit where they are so that the shoulders have more room to relax. On the inhale, feeling the center of the chest, and on the exhale, softening, relaxing. Now on the inhale, feeling your belly, and then relaxing on the exhale, softening, melting. And then seeing: where is it easiest or most compelling for you to experience the body breathing? For some people, it's the movements of the belly. Some people, it's the movements of the diaphragm. Some people, it's the movements of the chest. Some people, it's the sensations of the air going in and out through the nostrils. For some people, it's all of these, kind of as a big sweep or wave of breathing through the body. Whatever it is for you, let that be the place that you're _here_, here in this breathing, in this body breathing. If it's helpful, you might very gently say the word "here" as a pointer, as a reminder to be here in the middle of your breathing. To be rooted, as if it's the basis, the center of here and now. Saying the word "here" and letting that word also be a reminder to relax the thinking mind, to quiet the mind so you can better feel the experience of breathing. Like you would quiet your mind to hear a faint sound in the distance, as you say "here," the mind becomes quieter so it's more sensitive to breathing. It's okay for these few moments to let go of any way you're bracing yourself against life, or resisting, or holding on to something, afraid of something. It's okay to trust for these few minutes. Breathing. Letting all other things melt away. Rooted here, with your breathing. Here with the breathing. Here with the exhale, all the way to the end of the exhale. And if there is a slight pause at the end of the exhale, let that be a pause in any thinking that's crept in, so there's a quiet receptivity to the beginning of the inhale. If you're able to stay somewhat here with your breathing, see if you can let go of any idea that how you're meditating is not good enough. Instead, meditate without any idea of "not good enough," "not quite enough," or "not quite up to what it's supposed to be." It's good enough for your practice. And that feeling of "good enough" maybe is just the support you need to stay more fully with your breathing, to trust your breathing. Riding the rhythms, the waves of breathing in and breathing out. ## Cultivating Goodwill And then as we come to the end of the sitting, imagine sitting quietly. Ten or fifteen feet from you, not looking at you but sitting maybe reading, is a person that you care about, someone you love and appreciate a lot. Imagine that you open your eyes and you gaze upon this person sitting there quietly, but you continue to breathe mindfully. You don't get swept up into thoughts and ideas. Nothing needs to happen. You don't need to say anything. Maybe in this place in which you're aware of your breathing now, you might feel the tenderness, the warmth, the goodwill, the love you feel for this person. You might notice that—perhaps not always, but you might notice—your capacity to rest and feel your goodwill, your appreciation, your love in this simple way, without needing to do anything or say anything, is quite precious. Maybe it can evoke a sense of well-wishing for this person. Wishing them well. Wishing them happiness, and well-being, and peace. And now imagine somehow sitting in front of you are all beings everywhere. Maybe again, there's some way in which, at the end of the meditation session, you can tap into goodwill and care and appreciation of others, of all beings. Consider how you're well-wishing for them: "May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe and free."[^1] In this perhaps much more relaxed way of just sitting here, perhaps you can consider how you can actually be inspired from how you feel in meditation, how you benefit from meditation, to translate that into specific actions of goodwill or friendliness, of support and benefit for others. May it be that on this day, this community of ours sitting and meditating together, each of us may in a very small way spread outwards to make this a better world, here in the world which we inhabit. May we contribute to a better world today. --- [^1]: **May all beings be happy...:** These are traditional phrases used in _Mettā_ (loving-kindness) meditation to cultivate unconditional goodwill and boundless friendliness toward all living beings.