Equanimous Breathing
Try out this audio meditation guiding you to use your breath to explore your inner felt sense. |
What kind of image comes forth from a place of deep calm? This drawing revealed itself after a period of meditation and breathing in the midst of some turmoil and chaos in my own life. For years I have used the simple meditation of following the breath to help me find a state of inner equilibrium when life felt overwhelming. The resulting image was deeply comforting to me and helped me to remember the calm place below the choppy waves on the surface of life.
The breath is the most direct link between our inner and outer worlds and in many wisdom traditions is associated with Spirit. Even the word inspiration reflects how our creative muse is connected to our in-breath. I have found that by simply focusing on my breathing without altering it or trying to “do” anything, a deep peace can often seem to come over me. Equanimity is having a level or equal mind that is not pulled or pushed in any direction. It has composure and peacefulness. So the breath is a very direct way of working with this since it makes no sense to prefer the in-breath over the out-breath or visa-versa. Before you begin in your journal try spending 5 or 10 minutes in the simple practice of following your breath. Find a comfortable position where your body is supported so that you can relax, but not fall asleep. Close your eyes all the way, or leave a little sliver of light coming through. Then bring your attention to your breath as it enters and leaves the body. Sometimes it may feel useful to focus on different places like your nostrils or your lower abdomen. For now simply choose whichever seems more noticeable. If your mind wanders, simply bring it back to the breath. If the mind is particularly busy it can help to count to 3 over and over until you can even let go of that and just settle into the breath itself. There are many traditional and innovative meditation practices that utilize breath work for various purposes. Even if you have a meditation practice, this simple process can still be useful to explore in relation to equanimity and letting go of the need to grasp or avoid our immediate experience. |