Meditation

Loving kindness meditation is the practice to paying attention to ourselves and others with a sense of interest and care. It is also described as extending friendship to ourselves and others – not in the sense of liking everyone but more as an inner knowing that our lives are all inextricably connected.

Loving kindness meditation is the power of the heart that honours this connection. When we practice it, we acknowledge that every on of us share the same of wish of being happy, and the same vulnerability to suffer and make changes.

Twenty years after the Buddha attained enlightenment, a senior monk by the name of Ananda, became his personal attendant.
One day he asked the Buddha, ‘’Venerable Sir, if people ask me whether you are still practising meditation, what shall I tell them?”
The Buddha replied that, yes, he was still meditating.
“What kind of meditation do you practice, Venerable Sir?” Ananda asked.
“Mindfulness of breathing” The Buddha answered.

The Buddha’s instructions on breathing describe a natural progression that begins with the simplest observation of the breath, which becomes ever more refined when we start witnessing the nuances of breathing and ultimately ends in the merging of the breath with the mind and body.

The Buddha created a road map of the breath that tells us where to begin, how to proceed, and what our destination might look like.

It is a journey that starts within the periphery of our awareness and moves progressively deeper into the centre of our body, our being and our mind.

During this recording, you will hear two techniques: the first one is a breathwork technique which help energises the body and balances the nervous system. It is followed by the step by step Breath awareness meditation instructed by Buddha’s.

This audio was recorded during an online morning meditation session in April 2020.

With this meditation, we are going to explore an old and traditional technique called Spinal breathing meditation. It is an uncomplicated way to pay more attention to our body and in this case, bring more awareness to our spine.  The spine is in the centre of our physical body but also is the centre of our nervous system.

During this technique, we visualise the breath moving along the spine, allowing us to work more in-depth with ourselves and create a deep sense of concentration.

Spinal breathing meditation can share its benefits with any calming breathwork and Pranayama techniques. Besides developing concentration, mindfulness and stillness, practicing this meditation is touching directly into our autonomic nervous system and will trigger our relaxation response.

We will leave this technique calm, grounded but also gently energised.

Breathing is natural for all of us but so many of us do not connect with the breath on a more conscious level, failing to realise the benefits of breathing well.

If we had the knowledge and the ability to raise our awareness and connect with our breathing patterns, we would feel more connected with both our physical body and our mind.

By sitting in stillness and focusing on our breath, we become more attuned to how our body and our breathing are feeling.  Connecting to our breath can give us a deeper understanding of our body and our being.

The benefits of Connect with breath meditation is creating calm and stillness in the body and the mind by using mindfulness and being present in the present moment. It helps to stop the mind running around worrying, distressing and agonising.

Meditating with the breath should be done with a non- judgemental, neutral mindset rather than a place of judgement or criticism.

You can practice this meditation seated, lying down in semi-supine.