The Gift of Awareness TM

MODULE 2 : MEDITATION PRACTICE

Breath Anchor with Mental Notes

We find it so challenging to remain present, to give our full attention to the people in our lives and
whatever we are engaged in. Do this 5-minute practice each day until the beginning of your next lesson. It
will support you to cultivate your capacity for paying attention to your experience with a quality of deeper
presence, moment by moment.
We recommend that you do this practice in a peaceful, calm space where you will not be interrupted (e.g,.
a quiet room, out in the woods or in the park). Silence your phone, let go of your to-do list, and devote the
fullness of your attention to this practice. Let people know that you will not be available during this time.

We’ll now practice with Genesis 2:7 in mind, experiencing directly the in-breath of coming
alive, of awakening, the out-breath of ending and decline.
Take your seat, assuming a dignified and alert orientation: embody the image of Jacob’s
ladder, rooted firmly in your lower limbs, deeply relaxed, and the spine rising from the
pelvis, like a stairway reaching toward the heavens, supporting alertness of attention.
If you wish, allow your eyes to gently close.
Take a few, deep, intentional breaths; this will relax the body, and also draw attention into
the sensations of the body. Feel your bottom on the seat or cushion, your feet on the floor,
your hands in your lap. Set a kavvanah (intention) to attend to the breath moment by
moment.
Next, allow your breathing to resume its own natural rhythm, while holding your attention
in the sensation of the breath in the body. As a tool to help you remain connected with the
breath, and perhaps less likely to become distracted or lost in thought, with each inhalation
you might say or sense in yourself “in breath;” with each exhalation say or sense in yourself
“out breath.”
[spend about 1 minute here]
It is possible that even with the help of these phrases your attention has wandered. No
problem. Without judgment, bring your attention back to the breath, practice teshuvah
(returning). Bring some curiosity to your practice now. Investigate for yourself whether you
are more likely to wander off or be distracted during an in-breath or an out-breath, or maybe
during the transitions between breaths.
[spend about 1 minute here]
Feel yourself being breathed. The air that is forced into our lungs is filled with oxygen,
produced by the plant world for our use. As we exhale, we send out carbon dioxide, which is
then used by the plants for their sustenance. Each breath we take, we share with all beings.
Each breath we are given comes from the whole of the world, for our use, no charge. Feel
this gift with each breath.
[spend about 1 minute here]
 The Gift of Awareness TM
MODULE 2 : MEDITATION PRACTICE

As we come toward the end of this practice period, let go of this investigation, and simply
delight in the experience of sitting with the breath. There is nowhere else to be, nothing else
to do. You are a human being, alive in the world, being breathed. The breath of life arrives
each moment, a gift given freely, sustaining you in life.
[spend about 1 minute here]
When the time you allotted for this meditation practice is complete,close your meditation by
bringing your attention back to the breath, gently open your eyes and return your awareness
to the room.

We have written out the instructions for you here AND please remember that you have access to
the guided meditation audio version of this practice within the Module as well as saved to your IJS
Meditation Timer™ .

IJS Meditation Timer is a trademark of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality.

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