Counting Breath.
From the Zen Buddhist practice,
This easy and accessible meditation gives a lovely central point of focus for the mind.
By simply leaning your awareness into the breath,
The inhalation and the exhalation and the count.
Counting Breath works by assigning a count of each breath,
A full inhalation and a full exhalation is a count of one.
And you continue this way to the tenth breath.
Once you reach the exhalation of the tenth breath,
You simply start again at the count of one.
And if at any time during the practice,
Your awareness wanders away from the breath or the count,
Gently catch yourself and bring yourself back to start again at the count of one.
The breaths are through the nose on both the inhalation and the exhalation.
And this practice is best experienced seated upright.
So take a moment to adjust your meditation posture.
You want a lovely even distribution of weight at the base,
Evenness of the sit bones,
Legs hip width apart and the feet directly under the knees in contact with the floor or your support.
Make sure that the spine is supported and assume a lovely long elegant posture,
Shoulders down and back,
Length in the back of the neck and crown tall.
In this version of counting breath,
I will guide you through the first two sets of ten breaths.
And you'll notice that I'm counting the exhalation to be slightly longer than the inhalation.
This gives an additional calming effect to the flight or fight responses of your body and brings a balance to heart rate variability.
After the second set of ten breaths,
The meditation music will carry you along so you can continue counting breath in your own pace with your own ratio.
At the conclusion of this recording,
I will end the practice.
And now our practice of counting breath will begin.
Take a lovely natural breath through the nose,
A natural inhalation filling the lungs and exhale allow all of the air to leave your body.
Breathing in for 1,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
1,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
2,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
3,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
4,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
5,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
6,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
8,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
9,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
10.
Take a lovely big yogic breath filling from the bottom of your belly all the way up to your collarbone and hold the breath.
And release in a long steady stream from the nose,
Allow all of the air to leave your body.
Take a natural cleansing breath in and out.
And round now,
Breathing in for 2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
1,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
2,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
3,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
4,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
5,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
6,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
8,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
9,
In,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
10.
Take a lovely yogic breath filling from the pubic bone all the way up to your collarbone and hold the breath and release in a long steady stream from the nose.
Take a couple of natural cleansing breaths.
And now when you're ready for the next 10 minutes or so,
Let the meditation music guide you in your own timing and ratio of counting breath.
And remember at any time that your mind wanders from the breath or from the count,
Simply start again at 1.
Inhale through the nose.
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