All day long, we’re busy going about our day. But no matter what we’re doing, what’s happening around us, how we’re feeling inside, the breath is always there, in the background.
In our mindfulness practice, we’ve come to have more awareness of and appreciation for the breath. Many of us have noticed that, when we do this practice and just pay attention to our breath, we feel more relaxed, calm, and centered. We also find that, in stressful moments, we can turn to our breath to pull us through.
Isn’t it reassuring to realize that this breath we have come to appreciate and depend on is always with us? It’s always operating in the background – silently, faithfully, reliably.
So in our meditation, we might think of our breath awareness practice as “bringing the breath to the foreground.”
When our attention drifts away from the breath, and we’re thinking about something else, in that moment, our breath has faded into the background, and the foreground is filled with our thoughts and imagery. As soon as we notice that, we can gently let go of those thoughts, and ask ourselves, “where is my breath?”
So our practice is to let those thoughts pass by, and bring our attention back to the breath. We connect with the breath and bring it back to the foreground – breathing in, feeling the coolness at the tip of our nose.
What would it be like to keep the breath at the foreground of our consciousness, from moment to moment to moment?
Mindfulness FAQ 