Artwork for podcast Inner Peace Meditations
Returning to Your Breath for Calm and Peace
Episode 56 • 1st April 2024 • Inner Peace Meditations • Steven Webb
00:00:00 00:12:15

Share Episode

Shownotes

Deliberately simple, so you can take it anywhere. The car, the corridor outside a meeting, the kitchen with a child pulling at your hand.

About 12 minutes with Steven Webb's calm voice.

One idea sits underneath it. When you breathe in, the universe breathes out. There is a balance in every breath, and it is always available, whatever else is going on around you. Thich Nhat Hanh said returning to the breath is like kissing the floor with every step. That is the whole practice, and it is enough.

Treat me to a coffee, keep the podcast free, and get my Weekly Calm every Sunday. It is all on stevenwebb.uk

Thank you for sitting with me.

Steven

Stevens new course: Finding Peace in Everyday Life (you choose how much to pay)

Transcripts

Steven Webb:

Welcome to Returning to Your Breath. This meditation is really simple and I'm keeping

Steven Webb:

it really simple deliberately because I want you to be able to take this with you wherever you are, whenever

Steven Webb:

you need a little bit of inner peace, whenever you need the mind to just quieten down a little bit,

Steven Webb:

just to be able to return to your breath. And just feel that little bit of inner peace that you

Steven Webb:

already have, but is often covered over by so much thinking and stress and anxiety. and busyness that we

Steven Webb:

don't very often see it. So wiggle yourself into a comfortable position. If you're looking at this on the phone,

Steven Webb:

just place the phone down next to you and

Steven Webb:

just become aware of your breath.

Steven Webb:

You don't need to do anything with your breath. Your body knows how to breathe. It's been doing it without

Steven Webb:

you for a long time.

Steven Webb:

Allow your shoulders to relax. Allow your face and your arms

Steven Webb:

and your eyes

Steven Webb:

off and your chin,

Steven Webb:

your bum and your legs. Allow them all to relax. And

Steven Webb:

again, just as your breath, your body knows how to relax.

Steven Webb:

And by keeping your awareness on your breath but not doing anything with it, you're just embracing this moment.

Steven Webb:

Embracing this moment for everything it is.

Steven Webb:

And the moment very often is just fine. You don't need to do anything with it.

Steven Webb:

Just breathing in calm. Breathing

Steven Webb:

out. Relax.

Steven Webb:

And you may notice your breath naturally slows down. Your body naturally relaxes into this

Steven Webb:

moment.

Steven Webb:

Just the same as your mind naturally quietens.

Steven Webb:

And if you find your mind does wander, just give it a gentle smile. Thank you for the thought. Thank

Steven Webb:

you for the story.

Steven Webb:

But just invite it to sit with you.

Steven Webb:

Be here with me. We're just breathing.

Steven Webb:

We're just breathing at being at one with

Steven Webb:

the mind and body. The

Steven Webb:

spirit.

Steven Webb:

This moment.

Steven Webb:

This room.

Steven Webb:

The place where you are.

Steven Webb:

And notice in the smallest possible way that

Steven Webb:

when you breathe, you change the whole universe.

Steven Webb:

Just consider that for the moment.

Steven Webb:

Every peaceful, gentle breath

Steven Webb:

changes the whole universe.

Steven Webb:

And just by allowing this moment to be

Steven Webb:

all and complete without

Steven Webb:

adding to it,

Steven Webb:

without making it more complex and just keeping it as simple as what it is now.

Steven Webb:

The peacefulness goes

Steven Webb:

throughout your whole body.

Steven Webb:

You may feel it in a different part.

Steven Webb:

For me, it's in my heart and just below in my belly. I

Steven Webb:

just feel this peacefulness that's calming

Steven Webb:

and And every breath just feels like a connection to the world around me.

Steven Webb:

When I breathe in, the universe breathes out.

Steven Webb:

When I breathe out, the universe breathes in.

Steven Webb:

And it's that perfect balance with every breath.

Steven Webb:

And what's important to remember is this is always available to you.

Steven Webb:

Whether you're driving somewhere in a car or you're about to go into a meeting or the

Steven Webb:

children are

Steven Webb:

pulling at your hand, nagging you for something. Whatever the pressures are, you

Steven Webb:

can still take a breath and

Steven Webb:

allow your awareness to drop from the sense of Urgency and doing and

Steven Webb:

busyness to a place of wisdom and openness and calmness. And

Steven Webb:

from this area, from this place,

Steven Webb:

it's not a disconnection.

Steven Webb:

The other place is a disconnection. This place is a deep connection.

Steven Webb:

And with this connection we can make wiser decisions. We stay calmer. We are more at touch. We

Steven Webb:

have more compassion. Can

Steven Webb:

you feel that now?

Steven Webb:

Which one feels wiser? Which one feels more compassionate and open and loving? The busyness of before

Steven Webb:

or the quietness of now?

Steven Webb:

Like Thich Nhat Hanh said, just returning to the breath is like kissing the floor with every step you take.

Steven Webb:

There's a peacefulness and calmness about

Steven Webb:

it leave you focus on your breath for a couple of minutes. I will keep an eye on the time.

Steven Webb:

And if your mind wanders, just bring it back to your breath

Steven Webb:

and Allow yourself to go deeper and more calm.

Steven Webb:

I will be back soon

Steven Webb:

So how was that for you? Did you manage to remain calm or did your mind start to wander?

Steven Webb:

Both of those things are

Steven Webb:

natural.

Steven Webb:

Your minds evolve to think, to

Steven Webb:

wander, to make up things, to keep an eye out.

Steven Webb:

And the breath is just evolved to breathe, to

Steven Webb:

keep you alive keep

Steven Webb:

you energised, to give you all The

Steven Webb:

Things it needs.

Steven Webb:

So in a moment I'm going to come back from five. We'll

Steven Webb:

return to the room.

Steven Webb:

So five, four, gently open your eyes. Three, shake out your

Steven Webb:

arms to just stretch a little bit look around the room just Just

Steven Webb:

consider how much more relaxed you're feeling now compared to before. Your body knows how to relax. You don't have

Steven Webb:

to do it. You just have to give it permission. Your

Steven Webb:

mind knows how to become quieter. Again, if you try to quiet in your mind or try not to have

Steven Webb:

a thought, they'll come racing even faster. The

Steven Webb:

idea is to give your mind something to do. The idea is to appreciate your breath. And from this deeper

Steven Webb:

sense, wisdom will come. Wisdom is knowing ourselves. That's the probably the deepest form of wisdom

Steven Webb:

you'll ever have, is getting to know yourself. And

Steven Webb:

this is where I just return into your breath, return into what's going on inside your body at any given

Steven Webb:

moment. It's really that's the that's the whole recipe. That's everything you

Steven Webb:

need

Steven Webb:

to become more calm, to suffer less, for the body to heal, for the mindfulness gateway, to connect with

Steven Webb:

the world

Steven Webb:

And that symbol of life itself,

Steven Webb:

the breath.

Steven Webb:

I'm Steven Webb and this is Inner Peace Meditations. And thank you for your support. You can find out my

Steven Webb:

links below. StevenWebb.uk. Take care. Bye for now.

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube