Meditating on the Breath (Mindfulness of breathing)
The most common form of meditation by far is the breath exercise. On the surface this is a simple technique - to sit and count your breaths to promote meditation, yet it take a very long time to perfect. As you progress you will learn to feel your breathing, where the breath starts and stops, where the centre point of the breath lies and where you pause between breaths. You will develop a mind for the moment-to-moment detail the breath creates - the lifting and lowering of the stomach, the diaphram, the chest and the sensations in the nostrils. If you examine the breath with curiosity (without controling it), your mind will be focused and you will start to see the fine movements within your body, eventually leading to an exploration of all the flowing life energies.
- Start by sitting and getting comfortable, then focus yourself casually on the breath. Watch the breath with interest as it flows in, down, up and out again. Don't try to cling to it, or regulate it in any way, but be aware of the movement of the breath within you. If there is a pause at the end of the outbreath or a long inhailation arrises, enjoy it - let the breath be spontaneous. You may see your breath becomes more regular as you learn to meditate. Also notice the state of your mind - remember to let it go without trying to control it or 'see' anything.
- To stay on track you may wish to focus your mind on 'breathing in' and 'breathing out' in such a way as you don't forget what you are doing. In buddhism, the traditional way to do this is to count after the outbreath, (from 1 to 10 and then return to 1), repeatedly. This will help keep the mind focused on the task at hand without exploring thoughts or memory impulses. By keeping your mind alert in 'meditation mode' you will be able notice when it wanders into 'planning mode' or 'reflecting mode' or even 'hunger mode' (which it will do regularly) and bring it casually back to the meditation. After five or 10mins of this, change your focus slightly to count just before the inbreath, again up to 10 and then back to 1 again. Five to 10mins later, your mind should be a relaxed enough position to appreciate the breath. Experienced meditators may wish to skip the counting if the mind is relaxed enough to begin with.
- Still keeping focused and alert (without clinging onto the breath), and when you are deep enough and relaxed enough, let any counting drop and stay with the breath. Notice how your body moves when breathing - the stomach will rise and fall, the ribs and shoulders lift and the whole upper body will slightly rise and lower itself. While you notice this, keep half-an-eye on the breath too, not interfering but following its path with interest as it flows down the body, into the lungs and out again. In time, you may see that the breath revitalises the whole body, like a wave of life, as you breath in. Remain with the breath in this way for 10 - 20mins depending on your ability to focus. If you can't focus without consentration or trying to regulate the breath, you may find it better to stay with the counting phase until the end (even experienced meditators need to do this on a bad day).
- If you have reached this far without any problems and feel confident, and deep enough, you can continue to the last phase - focus on a single point. In this last phase, bring your attention to a point on the body, such as the upper lip, the tip of the nose, or the mouth. Another great place is the internal point where you first feel the breath enter and leave the body. This point can be a feeling of nose hairs moving, or it could be behind the nose or at the back of the throat. Once you have a point, land you focus on it softly and feel the point as you continue to breath. Try to balance your attention between the breath, the rising and falling body, and the object point. Continue for about 10 - 15mins (Experienced people: or until your mind has opened).
As you become more advanced with your meditation, you can lengthen the time you choose to meditate, even letting nature decide naturally if you wish. Beginners should aim for about 30mins at least once a week, eventually extending up to about an hour. If you wish to meditate casually, a 15 minute session, 3 times a week will be good place to start, and after a few months you may start to experiment with more time. If cantake many months or years to develop the deeper states which do take longer to master.
If you would like to comment on this page or add information to it, click Here
