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 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

"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 meditation was originally recorded for the InsightLA Sunday livestream on April 20, 2025.

“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

About Jack Kornfield:

Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma, studying as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year's worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

"The goal of meditation is not to get to somewhere else, to get from here to there, but to come from there to here. To be present, awake, kind, alive." – Jack Kornfield

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