Mindfulness of body, breath and sounds

This meditation is in three parts. It begins with an invitation to pay careful attention to your bodily sensations. Then it moves to focussing on the breath. The last part brings your awareness to sounds. It's about 15 minutes long. You can read the whole script below if you like or just listen to the recording. Before you start, find somewhere you can be alone and won't be disturbed. Ideally, sit comfortably with a straight back. Meditation can be very relaxing and you may notice a tendency to fall asleep. Meditation aims for a balance between being relaxed and being aware.

I hope you enjoy this meditation. If you have any questions or comments, do get in touch.

Listen to the mindfulness of breath meditation.

Body, breath and sound: script

Start by sitting comfortably, with your back straight, your spine relaxed, and your eyes closed. Allow your awareness to come fully into the present moment. Noticing your posture, noticing your chair, noticing the chair making contact with your body, you feet making contact with the floor, and tuning into the sense of grounding and stability that comes from that.

Now noticing the sensations on the soles of your feet, toes, and the rest of your feet. Now moving your awareness to both your legs. Then moving your awareness to your hands, and arms. Try to let thoughts just come and go. Just keep coming back to awareness of the arms and the hands. Just noticing any sensations there.

Now noticing your stomach and your chest, and becoming aware of the back, and the shoulders, and the neck, and finally the face.
[Silent pause]. Now let yourself become aware of your breathing, noticing the air as it enters and leaves the body at the tip of your nose - cooler on the way in, warmer on the way out. Or perhaps noticing the breath somewhere else in the body, in your chest or belly. Inhale and exhale, rising and falling. Resting your awareness lightly on the breath.

Following each in breath all the way through and each out breath all the way through. Just letting go of thoughts any time they enter the mind. Just keep coming back to the breath. Simply letting go of thoughts and distractions and coming back to the breath over and over as many times as you need to.
[Silent pause]

Now letting go of the breath and moving your awareness to the sense of hearing. Noticing sounds from close by, maybe even the sound of your own breathing, and from further away, off into the distance. Just allowing sound to come to you, becoming aware of the rich soundscape in which you find yourself right now. Noticing the sounds themselves and the spaces between the sounds.
[Silent pause]

There's no need to name the sounds, to grasp or hold on to them, or to push them away. Just allow yourself to listen to the sounds as they are. Try to let go of any thoughts about what might be making the sounds or any judgements about them being good or bad.

[Silent pause]

If your mind wanders, no problem. Just gently bring it back to the present moment.
[Longer silent pause].
Notice that each sound has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

If you find that you're fixating on any particular sound, just relaxing your attention once again, becoming aware of the soundscape itself, the sounds and the spaces between them.
[Longer silent pause]

As we come to end of this practise, just becoming aware once again of your body sitting in the chair, it's posture, and the points of contact. Noticing your breath, aware of the chair underneath you, and your feet making contact with the floor. Then when you're ready, in your own time, just allowing your eyes to gently open.