Breath, Heart and Mind for Calm Focus

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Welcome back. In our meditation practice today, we're going to look at three anchors that we can use to draw ourselves always back to the present moment. These are the anchors of the breath, the heart, and the mind. The great gift of these three anchors is we always have them with us, and so they enable us to practice whenever or wherever we like,

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Over time, as we get to know these anchors more fully, more deeply, we find that they become doorways into full presence.

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Simply by tuning our awareness to them, even outside of a meditation time, we can bring focused awareness of the present moment to bear. So let's begin. Settling into our time of meditation, We begin once again by making our ritual gesture and by consciously entering this time as a time of peace, stability, and calm.

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Settling into our chair or onto our cushion, we can take a moment just to acknowledge that this is a time of peace, a time of grace, a time of gentle stability. We can feel the contact with the ground beneath us, supporting us. And we give our weight to the chair or to the cushion as fully as we can. Lengthening the spine, opening the solar plexus to allow our breath to move freely and gently.

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We move into this time of awareness, this time of meditation. And beginning with the breath, let's simply take a few moments to notice the breath. As I've mentioned before, our breathing is like our fingerprints. It is unique to us. Every human being breathes slightly differently. And so getting to know your breath is getting to know yourself in a way.

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So we can begin by simply asking ourselves, what is my breath doing? What is my breath doing right now? And as the internal observer, stand back from your breath. Notice its ebb and flow, its rise and fall. But get even closer to the rhythm of your breath.

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Notice whether or not there is a constant flow, or whether the breath staggers itself a little, Notice whether you breathe more from your belly or from your chest. Do your shoulders move when you breathe? Does your rib cage expand and retract? Or are you a deep diaphragmatic breather? Someone whose breath is deep and strong but almost invisible in terms of physical movement.

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If you wish, you can place one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest and simply feel the rise and fall of the breath. You can ask yourself, how do I breathe when I'm happy or when I'm sad? How do I breathe when I'm frightened or anxious.

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How do I breathe when I'm calm? In a way, you're getting to know the music and the rhythms of your breath. But you also know that the one thing you are always doing is breathing. And so drawing our attention back to the breath in this now moment, We can be aware simply of the breath as an anchor and a doorway into now.

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I'm going to invite you now to move your upper hand, the hand that was on your chest, to resting just over your heart. And notice if you can feel your heartbeat or your pulse either there or at any other point in your body. As long as you are living this physical, earthly life, your heart is beating, your pulse is moving. And so coming to know the rhythm of the heart,

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is also another way of entering the present moment. If you wish to practice with this, then you can even do so from time to time as you're preparing to sleep. If you lie on your side or place a hand against your ear, you may be able to hear your heartbeat all the more. But for now, simply be aware of the movement of the heartbeat. The breath ebbing and flowing, rising and falling.

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When we observe the thoughts rather than being lost in them, we observe them from the present moment. Our breath breathing gently, deeply. Our heart beating strongly, calmly. Our mind touching and reaching out, to all of the other possible stimuli, assessing, analyzing, imagining, remembering, creating.

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The constant movement of thought, the constant beat of the heart, the constant rhythm of the breath. Standing back from all three as the meditative observer, we can see them working, be aware of them moving, and use them as doors to the present moment. Even when our thoughts are difficult, we can always stand back and say, I am observing my thoughts from the present moment.

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I am observing my thoughts from the present moment without judgment and with curiosity. All the while just breathing in and breathing out. Aware of these three anchors always with us, always present. The breath, the heart, the mind.