Hello and welcome to this 10-minute meditation on counting breaths.
Let's begin by tuning in to the points of contact between the body and whatever it rests on.
So if you're sitting down that might mean feeling the soles of your feet touching the floor and your body touching the seat.
If you're lying down you'll feel your body making contact with the bed or perhaps the floor and just focusing your attention on the physical sensations at those points of contact.
Just noticing what you can feel there.
And when you feel ready focusing your attention instead on the sensations of breathing.
Tuning into the breath at some point in your body.
And you can feel the breath wherever in the body you choose to.
Perhaps at the stomach,
Perhaps at the chest,
Perhaps somewhere else.
Just finding a place in the body where you can feel the breath and focusing your attention there.
Just feeling the whole of the in-breath and the whole of the out-breath as best you can.
And now let's begin to count the breaths.
So at the end of each out-breath count to yourself silently.
So after the first breath count one,
Then after the next breath count two,
Then three and so on all the way up to ten and then begin again.
So counting off ten breaths silently and then beginning again.
And soon enough you might find that your mind's wandered,
That you've forgotten about counting or you've counted up past ten.
That's fine.
As soon as you notice just start again at one.
Or you might find that you can keep the count going perfectly well,
But you're not really paying attention to the breath.
You're just counting on autopilot and managing to think about other things at the same time.
If that's happening just notice and try and really connect with the breath.
Try and feel each breath before you count.
Just counting the breath and each time you realize you've become distracted or you're not paying full attention just re-engaging with the practice.
Now starting to count before each breath.
So counting silently to yourself before the beginning of the in-breath.
Just a subtle change of emphasis.
Count one before the first breath,
Two before the second breath and so on all the way up to ten and then begin again.
And when you realize you've got lost or counted too far or you're not really paying attention just notice that and begin again.
Just counting at the beginning of each breath.
It's okay if you keep getting lost or losing focus.
That's what we're practicing.
And now for the final minute of the meditation I'll leave you in silence to continue practicing this on your own.
And now we can bring this meditation to an end.
