Embodied Breath Practice

(14 minute Meditation Practice)

This meditation is adapted a Will Johnson practice he calls The Breath of the Unfolding Fern. You can listen to the entire Urban Retreat, and enjoy his magnificent teachings here: https://www.embodiment.net/audios. As he says, it is a very “deeply body-oriented approach to sitting meditation.” I love it.

Here are the instructions for the Embodied Breath Practice:

  1. Get into a comfortable position, sitting or standing. You’ll want to be able to move your entire spine and pelvis, so if you’re sitting, I suggest sitting on the front edge of your chair or sitting up versus leaning back.
  2. Close your eyes or lower your eyes with your eyelids mostly closed. Allow your eyes to soften.
  3. Bring your attention to your breath and begin noticing the qualities of your breath. Be a curious. Observe like a friendly scientist seeing something for the first time… Notice the characteristics. You might notice how deep or shallow, how fast or slow your breath is. You might notice the noises that your body makes as you breathe. You might notice the movements of your body as inhale and exhale.
  4. When your mind wanders, and you notice that you’ve wandered away, celebrate that moment. You’ve just become aware of yourself. Wonderful.
  5. Then gently bring your attention back to your breath. Again and again throughout the practice.
  6. As you inhale, your intercostal muscles, the muscles between your ribs expand the space between your ribs, making your chest and lungs expand. Begin to notice that your chest literally expands as you inhale.
  7. You can invite your body to deepen your inhale to exagerate this movement if you wish.
  8. Feel the body expand as you inhale. Feel that you expand and open and allow yourself to float up and out with each inhale.
  9. Notice that as you exhale, your muscles soften, your body relaxes. Notice this softening, this relaxing, and allow yourself to melt.
  10. Let the movement between these two things be like a wave… You’re flowing between opening, expanding, floating and softening, relaxing, melting.
  11. Let that movement, that flow, that wave get stronger and stronger. Exaggerate it if you like. Let your whole spine wave, from pelvis to skull.
  12. When you’re ready move your attention back to simply observing your breath, inviting the body to begin gently slowing down, coming back to physical stillness.
  13. Eventually, end your practice and open your eyes.

Whenever you practice, you can always find this wave, and embody your breath. There’s no need to sit perfectly still like a statue. Even if this movement is subtle from the outside, it is always there. Enjoy letting your body be free and fluid, a living, breathing wave of awareness.

Enjoy,
Elena

You’re welcome to download this practice as many times as you like, as well as share it with others, as long as it is for non-commerical use only.

To download it, right click on the black bar above and choose Download Audio.