Whole body breathing

We’re just going to tune into what we’re already aware of in the body — what our bodies are already telling us. Often, the first thing they’ll tell us when we tune in is the bits that are not feeling so relaxed — where there’s tension, discomfort, contraction, constriction. So we’re just making space for all of this, meeting it with care, compassion, sensitivity. Noticing how these experiences in the body respond to being met in that way — to being given space and care. And then expanding wider than these initial encounters with the body — wider, deeper, subtler — shining the light of awareness deeply into the body. And as you do so, many more experiences will become known: tingles, regions of heat, vibrations, currents, a sense of movement within the body, even as the body is in stillness. Subtle tensions arising here and there, waxing and waning — coming more and more into this field-like experience of the body, which is simply the body met with the right kind of awareness. A less pointed, less demanding, less focused awareness. Something wider, deeper, more expansive. And this field of the body, this sense of the body, is this bubbling, shifting, swirling, dynamic play — a process. We can also sense its atmosphere — its kind of underlying tone or flavour. It’s not something completely separate from the sensations and experiences themselves, but it’s more pervasive and in the background. We can sense here our emotional state reflected in this underlying frequency of vibration, or flavour, of the body space. And we want to relax more into this background. We want to deepen and soften and rest back into the sense of the very space that holds the body. Then we want to see if we can turn up the warmth of this background atmosphere — just add, or increase, a sense of kindness, a sense of welcoming, holding, allowing. So we drop down from the busy foam of experience. We relax and sort of unhook ourselves from this level and sink deeper into the space that holds all of this. And as we spread out into this space, we flavour it and infuse it with kindness. Maybe from this space it’s possible to appreciate and delight in the play of experience — the comings and goings of sensation. Maybe we can sense those comings and goings as emanating from this space — really just the space itself, dancing, playing. And so, staying in this background, spacious, holding awareness, we can at last begin to receive the breath. If we’d done this straight away, our experience of the breath would be much shallower. So having warmed up the awareness, having sunk down — to whatever extent we are able to — into this deeper, more spacious, more open background of awareness, we allow the movement of breathing to be recognised. There’s a kind of tidal movement in the whole body. And by ‘whole body’ I don’t necessarily mean fingers, toes, head, chest, etc. It’s this whole space of experience. So the breath comes in and lifts the body — physically, energetically, metaphorically. There’s a sense of brightening, a buoyancy that we can tune into that’s not located just here or there — it’s kind of everywhere. As the breath lets go and recedes, there’s a sense of dropping down, releasing, maybe even surrendering. And there’s a short pause between the two — which again we can feel in the whole space of the body — this pregnant moment of stillness. To sustain and deepen this practice, just checking in with a few things. We may need to frequently drop back from the level of this or that sensation, experience, emotion, thought. When we find that we’re more engaged and identified at that level, we just shift backwards and outwards and become the space from which all of that comes and goes. We make our home there — at that level. We may need to do this occasionally or frequently, but it shouldn’t feel like effort — it should feel like relief. Relief that we don’t need to be pushed around by this or that experience. So that’s the first thing — dropping back into the background spacious awareness. And we need to take care of the atmosphere we’re cultivating for ourselves — infusing warmth and care and compassion, love, wholeheartedness, interest, authenticity — any or all of these related qualities. When these are present, meditation becomes much more enjoyable and much less of a slog. Then the third thing — we witness the rhythm of breathing. We see how the breath is everywhere, and we feel its impact in the whole body. And finally, of course, we appreciate and enjoy any sense of harmonisation, of gatheredness, of greater well-being that practising in this way brings. It can be very enjoyable, very resourcing, to stay with the body in this way at this deeper level. It’s a refuge from the kind of toss and turn of our habitual, higher-level experience of life in the body. So we’ll stay here, practising like this, enjoying this refuge for the last few minutes in silence.