The Daily Meditation with Brother Richard
Breathwork Meditation: Diaphragmatic Breathing
13 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is diaphragmatic breathing and why is it important?
Welcome back. In today's meditation, we're going to work. Sorry, I need to clear the throat.
Chapter 2: How can I prepare my body for diaphragmatic breathing?
Excuse me.
Chapter 3: What steps can I take to notice my natural breathing patterns?
That's just talking about hay fever.
Chapter 4: How do I practice belly breathing effectively?
Okay.
Welcome back. In today's meditation, we're going to talk about moving the breath in the body. Most meditative traditions will say that if at all possible, it is better in times of meditation to allow our breathing to be diaphragmatic. That is to breathe with the diaphragm rather than with the muscles of the chest and shoulders.
Chapter 5: What benefits does diaphragmatic breathing provide in daily life?
This can be a little confusing at first, especially if we haven't done it before. But stick with the practice and see how you feel. So let's begin. Entering the time of meditation, we do so now gently and with awareness. Letting go of all that has been before today. Letting go of any worry or anxiety we might have about what's coming later.
We are simply in the now, in this moment, in the gift of this moment. Settling ourselves into the chair, we allow the spine to uncurl and to open in a way that allows the breath freedom to move in the body. We feel the floor beneath us anchoring us the chair and cushion supporting us. It is peaceful.
And for a moment, we simply observe the breath as it is, not changing it in any way as yet, but just breathing in and breathing out. The very first thing you did when you were born was to breathe in. The very last thing you will do before you leave this world will be to breathe out. Touching the breath, as we've said so many times, is touching the whole life.
And so settling now into awareness of the breath, We breathe in and breathe out. Breathing out all tension, all stress, all worry. Breathing in peace, warmth, calm. And as we breathe, we simply notice how we breathe. For most of us, breathing will be centered around the chest. We might feel the expansion and retraction of the ribs. We might feel the movement of the breath in mouth and throat.
We might feel the rise and fall of the shoulders and the chest as we breathe. Your breath is as unique to you as are your fingerprints so it will be slightly different for everyone. Breathing out, we breathe out all the tension. Breathing in, we breathe in all the peace. And allowing the breath now to drop and fall into the belly. We begin to notice that when we breathe in, the belly expands.
And when we breathe out, the belly retracts. With each movement of the belly, the diaphragm rises and falls, rising to expel the breath, falling to inhale the breath. And so for a few moments, consciously now, I'd like you to bring your breath down to your belly. In other words, in order to breathe in, you will consciously push your belly out.
And in order to breathe out, you will consciously pull your belly in. Breathing out, the belly retracts. The diaphragm rises. Breathing in, the diaphragm falls, the belly expands. This all may seem a little confusing at first because we are so used to our breath being automatic.
But just for this cycle now, we are consciously breathing, slowly pulling the belly in to breathe out, slowly allowing the belly to expand as we breathe in. This is often referred to simply as belly breathing. It allows us to use the full capacity of the lungs to breathe deeply
to cleanse the lower half of the lungs that are often holding stagnant air, to increase physical energy as well for work or sport. So gently, always returning to that awareness of the breath that as we breathe out, we pull the belly in. As we breathe in, we push the belly out.
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