Category Archives: Mindfulness of Breath

Neurology and 10-Breaths Practice

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To Practice 10 Breaths…

  • Choose a focus of appreciation. This might be a beloved object or photograph; the thought of a beloved person; or a moment during a hike or other experience where you pause to fully take in the beauty of the moment
  • Take a couple of deep breaths to calm and center yourself
  • Turn your attention fully to what you have chosen to appreciate. If it is an object, hold it in your hand or in your gaze and feel it with all your body. If is a person, evoke them fully in your mind, and feel their presence with your whole body. If it is a moment in nature, invite all five senses into appreciation of your experience: what you are seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, smelling.
  • Allow yourself to drop down and more fully inhabit this experience with each breath. You may want to keep track of each breath with a minimal counting on your fingers, touching a finger to your thigh or your thumb with each count.
  • At the end of ten breaths, gently name to yourself what was pleasurable about the experience.
  • Continue with your mindful day!

Why Practice 10-Breaths — a bit of neurology

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Invitations: Mindfulness of Breath

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THIS WEEK: LET US GROW AWARE OF OUR BREATH, AND OF OUR DEEPEST INTENTION

Three Invitations:

• How do you want this pandemic to change you? Write down whatever arose for you during tonight’s talk, and revisit the question through the week.

• Commit to a period of practice every day. It can be as short as five minutes, but even a few minutes of stillness, of following the breath, can calm and clear the mind. A wonderful resource, if you would like some guidance in this, is Mindfulness Daily, a 40-day mindfulness course that Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach are offering for free during the pandemic. Each day is a bite-sized lesson and short meditation — 10 to 12 minutes each day — and the series is deep and rich and delightfully accessible. You can access the course here: Mindfulness Daily

• Check in with your breath a few times a day, taking one or two or three breaths with complete attention. It helps to have a trigger. Some people take one deep breath each time before they check their phone or a text. Another possibility: right now all of us are washing our hands a lot. Two deep breaths takes about 20 seconds, and is a lot more satisfying than singing “Happy Birthday” in your head for the umpteenth time. Fully engage with your breath, and enjoy the sensual pleasure of soapy water on your hands.

Please share your experiences or questions in the comment section.