The Practicing Happiness Workbook by Ruth Baer

Author:Ruth Baer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781608829057
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Published: 2014-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

Mindful Breathing with Other Sensations

Now that you’re familiar with mindful breathing, you can combine it with awareness of other sensations. Let’s go back to the introductory exercises and add mindful breathing. This creates an exercise known as “breathing with” (Williams et al. 2007). You’ve been breathing with the rest of your experiences all your life, but perhaps you’ve never been mindfully aware of it.

These exercises may seem odd and artificial at first. Please be patient. This is a skill that requires practice. With experience, you’ll see that it’s worth the effort.

Exercise: Breathing with Sensations in Your Hand

Put your hand on a surface and observe the sensations, as you did before. Notice the feelings in each of your fingers, your thumb, the back of your hand, and your palm. Take your time.

Now expand your awareness to include your breath as well as your hand. Your attention may shift back and forth between your hand and your breath. This is okay. If it’s helpful, think of your attention as a spotlight. It can be narrowly focused on just your hand or just your breath, or it can be expanded to include both. Experiment and observe what happens. If your mind wanders off, gently bring it back. Practice patience and open-mindedness. After you’ve practiced this a few times, try putting your hand in other locations and breathing with the sensations: on your head, on your abdomen, under running water, in a glove, and so on.

Exercise: Breathing with Sounds and Sights

Take a few moments to become aware of sounds. Settle into a nonjudgmental, curious attitude about sounds as best you can. Notice their qualities. Observe the silences between sounds.

Now expand your awareness to include your breath. Practice breathing with the sounds. Your attention may shift back and forth between breathing and sounds. This is okay. If your focus narrows to only sounds or only breathing, see if you can expand it to include both. Now try breathing with sights. Choose something to look at, perhaps a tree outside your window. Observe the leaves and branches. Notice their colors, shapes, and movements in the breeze. Expand your attention to include your breath. Continue to observe the tree while also noticing your breathing.

Exercise: Breathing with Routine Experiences in Daily Life

Try breathing with the sensations you feel while sitting at your desk, holding on the phone, riding in an elevator, walking down a hallway, and so on. During meetings, conversations, or household chores, see if you can notice your breath in the background without ignoring the task at hand or tuning it out.

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