Breathing Awareness Meditation – Relax and Be Aware

Take a break and let go of the busy day. Focus on the movement of your breath where you feel it the strongest. Outside the nose, inside the nose, back of the throat, the chest, and the belly are common places to feel the breath. Some people may feel the breath moving through all areas of the body, and this is fine, too. Breathe naturally and do not influence the breath. Be aware of each in-breath and each out-breath. Feel the subtle changes in each breath.

If you find your mind has wandered from the breath, try focusing on what took you away. Once that thought, emotion, or sensation quiets down, go back to the breath. Do not try to keep your entire focus on the breath. Just use the breath as a base. Whenever your focus is taken away, give your awareness and understanding to that new object until it loses strength and then return to the breath. Cycle back and forth between the breath and what took you away. This keeps you focused, but not on a single object the entire time.

Notice what thoughts arise without engaging your automatic mind to judge, analyze, or try to fix anything. This exercise is all about becoming aware and then letting go when the object loses its strength.

This meditation helps relieve stress as you become relaxed through mild focus and mindfulness. As you watch your mind when it wanders off, you develop awareness of what your mind is up to. It helps you watch and understand your mental activity and you can see if the activity is needed or not. If it is not needed, you can continue giving it attention or just let it go. This helps grow mental awareness that can transfer to your everyday life.

Start with a minute or two of practice, several times throughout the day. Once you are comfortable, try adding more time. If the added time causes stress, go back to the shorter time.