The breath is a source of energy and of relaxation. It can be used to bring alertness and brightness, as well as to find calm and ease. The breath has been used in many meditative and contemplative traditions as a way to regulate the nervous system, settle the mind, and to shift perception — sometimes even in ways that are psychedelic. In this practice you will begin with finding comfort. You will then follow the breath carefully and attentively, allowing the body to relax and the mind to settle. By checking in with the quality of attention, you can notice the energy level of the mind, and find balance through inclining to more alertness or more relaxation. You get to take time out of being you and instead shift into just being: this body, this breath.
Tag: breath
Just Being (Guided Meditation)
Meditation practice can be finding methods to get out of your own way. The sense of self and operating as an individual self, while really useful in daily life, is a limiting factor on your sense of existence. By dropping out of your habitual patterns, more opens up. This practice focuses on relaxing and settling through tuning in to the present moment and then following the sensations of the breath. While doing this, you allow all other sensations to come and go in the background of spacious awareness. Then finally you will drop the breath or let it fade into the background and simply be — allowing all the body sensations, sounds, thoughts, and feelings to come and go, without getting caught up. The universe continues on, vividly appearing, without you having to do anything at all.
Scanning the Body for Subtle Sensations
This recording provides some ways into the Stage 5 practice of The Mind Illuminated. In this stage, you can use the subtle sensations of the body as a way to increase sensory clarity. By looking for sensations that are hard to find and at the edge of your sensory range, it heightens the degree of sensory clarity, which then increases the overall power of mindfulness. This practice is best done once there is some stability of attention so that it is relatively easy to stay with the sensations in the body. You may find that at first this is tiring and leads to dullness or vagueness, but over time and with repeated practice it is likely to help increase the degree of sensory clarity.