A shared practice
Mindfulness of Breathing
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Created bySean Fargo
From Sean's breathing collection — recorded in his own voice.
In Sean Fargo’s own voice9 min
Read along — the full script
Mindfulness of breathing. Meditation can be very simple and does not require any special equipment. This meditation is called mindfulness of breathing, and it has many scientifically proven benefits for both your mind and body.
Please try this meditation often to feel a profound sense of physical relaxation and mental clarity. Let's begin. If your condition allows it, sit erect but relaxed in a straight-back chair with your feet flat on the floor.
If you cannot sit, then lie on a mat or a blanket on the floor or on your bed. Allow your arms and hands to be as relaxed as possible. Gently close your eyes and focus your awareness on the breath as it flows into and out of your body.
Feel the sensations the air makes as it flows in through your mouth or nose, down your throat, and into your lungs. Feel the expansion and subsiding of your chest and belly as you breathe. Focus your awareness on where the sensations are strongest.
Stay in contact with each in breath and each out breath. Observe them without trying to alter them in any way or expecting anything special to happen. Breathing in, you are aware you are breathing in. Breathing out, you are aware you are breathing out.
When your mind wanders, gently shepherd it back to the breath. Try not to criticize yourself. Minds wander. It's what they do. Realizing that your mind has wandered, gently encourage it to refocus on the breath. Your mind may eventually become calm, or it may not.
If it becomes calm, then this may only be short-lived. Your mind may become filled with thoughts or powerful emotions such as fear, anger, stress, or love. These may also be fleeting. Whatever happens, simply observe as best you can without reacting to your experience or trying to change anything.
Gently return your awareness back to the sensations of the breath again and again. Breathing in, you are aware you are breathing in. Breathing out, you are aware you are breathing out. When you breathe in, you may make a mental note of in, and when you breathe out, you may make a note of out.
When your mind wanders, you may make a mental note of thinking, then return to the sensations of breathing in and out. At the end of each exhalation, there is a space when it seems that there is no breath, a point of stillness and space. Then, of its own accord, without our having to do anything, the breath rises once again on the in-breath, and the cycle begins again.
When you are practicing mindfulness of breathing, you may just note as you are breathing, I know I am breathing in, or I know I am breathing out. The main point of your practice is to focus upon the sensations of breathing itself. As we end this meditation, it can be helpful to form the intention of bringing this quality of kind, curious awareness to the rest of our day's experience.
Now, please gently open your eyes and take in your surroundings. Thank you.
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