Heart Wisdom – Ep. 290 – Bowing to the Breath: An Embodied Mindfulness Practice

In this guided breath meditation, Jack Kornfield invites listeners into a space of ease, trust, and ardent gratitude for our bodies, hearts, and minds.

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“This is your life breath. It breathes you together with all living things. It breathes you with everyone in the room, the ocean of air in the trees. As if to make an inward bow, you can say thank you to your breath for keeping you alive so steadily.” – Jack Kornfield

This week on Heart Wisdom, Jack leads listeners through:
  • The true purpose of meditation and returning from the outer world to our inner selves
  • Softening the body and releasing any physical and emotional tension
  • Grounding ourselves as we sense the weight of our body being fully supported by the earth
  • Receiving whatever thoughts and emotions arise during meditation with compassion and openness
  • Noticing how the body breathes itself, relaxing into each breath, and inviting a sense of ease and trust
  • Feeling the rise and fall of our bellies with each inhale and exhale
  • Bowing inwardly to our life-sustaining breath and thanking it for keeping us alive
  • Expanding the field of mindful loving awareness to the entire body, heart, and mind
  • Finding the parts of our body that are storing buried difficulties
  • Considering the energy of the mind and how occupied it is most of the time
  • Welcoming a sense of peace and presence with a quieter mind and a tender heart
  • Resting in ‘the awareness that notices’ and de-identifying with the breath and body

“Notice that you are not your breath and body. You are not your feelings and thoughts. But, who you are is the awareness that has been kindly witnessing. You are the loving awareness itself.” – Jack Kornfield

This episode was originally recorded for the InsightLA Sunday livestream on April 20, 2025.
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