The Breath brings us Back to the Present!

A second way to train our minds to be more in the present, which I learned from my Teachers Lama Marut and Cindy Lee is the ‘Mindful Breath Meditation’. 
 
During our yoga meditation after the ‘be here now’ meditation preliminary practice, we bring our attention to the breath with a simple ‘Mindful Breathing Meditation’.

Mindful Breathing Meditation
Mindfulness is the ability to pay careful attention to what you are thinking, feeling and sensing in the present moment, without judging those thoughts and feelings as good or bad. Mindfulness can help us deal with difficult feelings like stress, anger and anxiety. 
 
One method for cultivating mindfulness is to focus your attention on your own breathing. By taking time to practice mindful breathing we are training ourselves to be able to bring our focus to the breath in our daily lives. This facilitates our ability to concentrate, be patient and deal with negative emotions.
 
The breath is like our anchor in the present moment. We are always breathing in the present moment so bringing our attention here settles the mind into the present. And as we said everything is ok when we bring our mind into the present. Future fear and past worry exist in times that don't. The past that has already been and the future that is yet to come.
 
The Practice
We begin by focusing our mind on the breath, noticing the inhale as it moves through the nostrils, the little gap and the exhale as it moves out through the nostrils. We don’t need to do anything to the breath, simply notice it.
 
As we do this, your mind may start to wander to other things. This is very normal. It’s great when we notice that our mind has begun to wander. When you notice, simply relax and do your best to kindly bring the mind back to the breath, much like you would guide a wandering toddler.
 
Stay here for five minutes, watching the breath. Continue to notice wandering, relax and keep kindly bringing it back to the sensation of breath again and again. Remember to be kind and encouraging with your wandering mind. We all have minds that need gentle training. 
 
When we are out and about we can do this tuning into the breath at any time by simply taking a deep breath and bringing our attention to the breath. This will ground you in the present and everything is ok there.   
 
Mindfulness breath Meditation or just simple remembering to tune into the breath when we are going about your daily life has many benefits. These include…..

• Practicing with the ‘mindfulness breath meditation’ increases our ability to be able to bring our focus to the breath and hence bring us into the present in our daily lives. This facilitates our ability to concentrate, be patient and deal with negative emotions.
• Tuning into the breath brings us into the present moment and helps us stay there, rather than being distracted by past regrets and future worries. 
• The breath gives us an anchor which keeps us calm and prevents us from being carried away by unhelpful thoughts and emotions.

With love, appreciation and very best well wishes to us all 
Maree xx

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