--- ai_generation_date: '2026-08-31' ai_model: gemini-3-pro-preview audiodharma: talks: - date: '2021-01-14' mp3_url: https://audiodharma.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/talks/12736/20210114-Gil_Fronsdal-IMC-guided_meditation_breathing_with_the_body.mp3 speakers: - speaker_name: Gil Fronsdal speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/1 talk_start_time_seconds: 0 title: 'Guided Meditation: Breathing with the Body' url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12736 video_unavailable: false location_city: Redwood City, CA video_unavailable: false youtube: id: l5rXFQ6lsKw imprecise_upload_date: '2021-05-04' title: 'Guided Meditation: Breathing with the Body' upload_date: null uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5rXFQ6lsKw --- # Guided Meditation: Breathing with the Body - [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: Breathing with the Body](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12736) Warm greetings, and I'm happy to be sitting here with you. Sitting here in this posture, which I've been using and sitting in for many years, and because of the regularity of taking this posture for meditation, this posture—and particularly the body that I feel when I'm sitting in this posture—is a home for me, a place of stability, calm, and support that is invaluable. One of the great benefits that I have received from my Buddhist practice is, in fact, a very strong connection to my body. Using the body as a place of stability, of calm, of peace, is a wonderful place for really tuning in and being aware of what's happening to me on many different levels. We find that in the Buddhist teachings, and in much of Buddhism whether it's explicit or implicit, there is a tremendous emphasis on being embodied, being present in our body. It might seem to some people a little bit uninteresting, or very uninteresting, to be grounded in the body, as the locus of our life concerns can often be in our thoughts, ideas, plans, and memories. But that takes us away from this embodied, present-moment experience. There is an intimacy. I think one of the reasons why I love this mindfulness of the body is that it's not just the body that I'm aware of; the body is intimately connected to the mind, and the mind to the body. This interplay between mind and body is what leads to mindfulness. It is kind of like a doorway that enters into this rich world of interconnectedness. Finding a harmony between the mind and the body, this harmonious interaction and interconnection between them, is part of why it's so wonderful to discover this capacity for mindfulness of the body. I've said before that maybe that's enough for now, and then I'll say more at the Dharma talk. The breathing can be used as a support for grounding ourselves in the body, to be in our body more fully. One of the ways of doing that is to breathe with the body. Have a sense that somehow as you're breathing, your breathing is accompanying whatever is happening in your body. If you're able to just rest in the experience of breathing, great. But if there are other sensations in your body that are predominant and compelling, maybe because they're uncomfortable, it's possible to stay with the breathing, but also be aware of these other sensations of your body. Because you stay with your breathing accompanying them, part of you is acknowledging and being mindful of what's happening in your body, but you're not getting stuck in it. You are not so easily fixated on it or resistant to it in the mind, because you're staying with the rhythm of breathing. The flow of the coming and going of the in-breath and out-breath can be kind of like a massage—a kind of ease[^1] that keeps the mind from freezing up or tightening up. As the mind stays limber and relaxed, it's easier to be that way with what's happening in the body. Assuming a meditation posture, perhaps some of you have been doing your meditation for a while, and so maybe there's a way of appreciating your meditation posture. Maybe there's some greater familiarity. Maybe there's a way in which the body in this posture allows you to feel a little bit more embodied, present here now with your body. We'll start with the usual way of breathing deep and relaxing, but then we'll do a variation of that for the meditation. Follow along and then you'll understand the variation. Begin by taking a few long, slow, deep breaths. Take them maybe a little deeper and fuller than usual so you can really stretch out into your body. Really acknowledge and feel your body. Allow your body to become known. As you breathe in deeply and fully in all directions, the inhale stretches, opens, expands. And then the exhale is a relaxation, a letting go, a settling. Breathing in deeply, and then a long, relaxing, easeful letting go as you exhale. As you exhale, maybe let go of your thoughts and concerns of the day to just be here. Let your breathing return to normal. On the inhale, feel some part of your body where I'll direct you. And on the exhale, relax that part of your body. Soften, open it. Bring your attention on the inhale to your face. Feel what's there. And then exhale, softening the face. Do the same for the shoulders. Feeling the shoulders as you breathe in. Relaxing the shoulders as you exhale. Not trying too hard. Feeling the center of your chest. As you inhale and exhale, softening that center, the heart center. And then doing the same for the belly. Then, in whatever way it makes sense for you, feel your whole body as you inhale. And relax the whole body as you exhale. Now we'll do the same thing again, but this time without the relaxing. Just to be aware. Bring your attention to the face. On the inhale, feel the face. And on the exhale, just feel the face. The muscles, the sensations. Breathing in and out, feeling the face. Do the same for the shoulders. On the inhale, feeling. On the exhale, feeling. Do the same for the chest, the center of the chest. Allowing whatever is there to be there. You're just breathing with it as you breathe in, and as you breathe out. Feeling the belly. As you inhale, as you exhale. Accompanying the belly as you breathe. Do the same for the whole body. As you inhale, feeling the whole body in whatever way that's easy for you. As you exhale, feeling the whole body. If there's some sensation in your body that's particularly compelling, either pleasant or unpleasant, do the same thing. Breathe with it. Feeling it as you inhale, feeling it as you exhale. Your breathing is accompanying your body. If nothing particular is happening that needs attention, then stay centered in your breathing, but with the sense that your breathing is accompanying your body. Breathing through your body. Breathing with your body. Even if you find your mind drifting off in thought, there's an art to breathing with that. Maybe breathing with the agitation in the mind, the tension in the mind, or the energy of the mind to think. Breathing with it and feeling the physicality connected to thinking. And then perhaps centering yourself on your breathing. Breathing is accompanying breathing. Breathing is accompanying the sensations of your body that come and go as you breathe. For our last minutes here, breathe with your whole body, somehow in a relaxed, open way. As you breathe in, experience your body broadly. In whatever global way you can, feel your body. And as you exhale, maintain a global awareness of your body, spreading out into the arms and the legs. Your back. Perhaps gently, ever so gently, taking a little bit deeper breaths. Fuller breaths. And continue with this global awareness of the body. Breathing with the body. Then, spread the awareness wider. While you're still breathing, breathe with the world. In whatever global way you can experience the world beyond yourself. Whether it's local, particular people, or some generalized feeling-sense of the whole world. Accompany the world with your breathing. Keeping your breathing as relaxed as it is easy to do. Maybe ever so gently, breathing a little deeper and fuller, to break through any ways in which you're holding your breath back. And with that ever so slight deeper breath, breathing with the whole world. Not tensing to the world. Not resisting or getting agitated, but allowing the rhythm of breathing to keep you at ease while you're also aware of the whole world in some global way. Now, keep breathing with the world, spreading whatever goodwill that's easy for you to do so. A kind regard, a generosity of spirit and of heart out into the world. A care, a respect, a reverence, or valuing[^2] of the whole world as you breathe. Accompany the world with your breathing, almost as if it travels on the waves of your breathing out into the world. May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be free. May all beings be settled and at ease in themselves. May all beings breathe easily. Breathe in comfort. And may you, with your easy breath, your comforting breath, breathe with the whole world. --- [^1]: Original transcript said 'ideas', corrected to 'ease' based on context. [^2]: Original transcript said 'evaluating', corrected to 'valuing' based on context.