BREATH-BASED MEDITATION
Traditional Breath-Focused Meditation Techniques
Choose from one of the counting guided meditations below:
A simple counting meditation.
A breath holding circuit exercise.
An excellent one to use if your mind wanders during meditation.
Breath-based meditation is a common and age-old method for holding a meditation practice. There are great number of variations on this theme with one of the common ones in the West being the mindfulness practices that are originally based on the Southeast Asian style of Vipassana meditation. This tradition uses a mindful observation of the breath (as well as thoughts, feelings and actions) as a method to realize the true nature of reality. The Zen teachings from Japan, for example the zuisokukan method of following the breath, have also garnered much attention in the West. Both traditions, and the many others like them, are well articulated elsewhere so in this section the focus is on a series of simple breath-counting exercises that are both accessible to the beginner as well as being powerful re-grounding techniques for more advanced students.
Once you have chosen the length of time you plan to meditate for and selected the method you would like to use for your meditation session, you arrange yourself in a comfortable position and count your breath as described. If you would like to use a timer, there are a number of useful apps here.
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