Category: General

Breath is a huge part of meditation.  There are many different types of practices but focusing on inhaling and exhaling air is the main practice.  Everyone other type of practice is done complementary to it.  You should understand what the inhaling and exhaling air practice is.   This is what you will be using most of the time.  In order to understand this type of practice the following will be discussed:

The meaning of awareness in the practice.

The object of focus for this type of practice.

What focusing on it helps you do.

The meaning of awareness in the practice.

Meditation is awareness, vice versa.  The mind is always wandering.  It is either thinking about the past or the future.  What am I going to eat for dinner?  I need to the groceries store to get more water.  How can I improve myself?  When am I going to do house chores? And so on.  When you are thinking of the past and the future you are not thinking of the present moment. You are unconscious.  Thousands of thoughts are flashing through your head, and you do not notice the thoughts.  You have a reaction, and you do not know the cause.  Repeatedly focusing on your breathing and turning it into a daily practice helps you be more conscious.

The object of focus for this type of practice.

In meditation you focus on an object repeatedly to help keep your mind from wandering.  You focus on the object of focus and when you find your mind wandering again you gently bring your focus back to it.  It keeps you from thinking about the past and future.  It grounds you in the present.  The object of focus could be any object, herbs, sound, mantra, affirmations, yoga poses, visual objects, breath, and so on.   In this type of practice, the object of focus is the air you take in and out of your nostrils.  That is where your awareness goes.  As mentioned before, it is the object of focus you should be using most of the time.  Other objects of focus should be complementary.  You focus on this type of action, inhaling and exhaling air through your nose, repeatedly. 

What focusing on it helps you do.

Breath awareness meditation helps you transcend your body, environment, and time.  You are more of your Self and less off yourself.  It is our natural state to be happy.  You are not missing the good old days or dreading something in the future.  You are in the blissful present moment.  You are more elevated emotionally, and you can bring that into the rest of your day.  Also, you are better able to observe your thoughts, feeling, and emotions.  You will see how your thought affect your feeling and emotions and how your feeling and emotions affect your thoughts.  This helps you to be more proactive and less reactive.  You will be able to observe a situation without letting it automatically control you.   You will no longer be quick to act to negative situations.  You will be able to choose a different reaction that is more intuitive. 

Now that the meaning of the state of conscious in the devotional exercise, the object of focus for the breath practice, and what the it helps you do have been discussed, you are able to better understand the practice.  Meditation in this practice is awareness, vice versa.  The object of focus you will be using in this practice is inhaling and exhaling air.  Repeating this action helps slow down and eventually stop thought. This type of practice helps you be more of your Self and less of yourself.  We experience our natural state.  It is our natural state to be happy.  We are less reactive to negative situations. 

You do not have to be an expert meditator to enjoy calm and relaxation under the most stressful situations.  We cannot meditate when we are in a stressful situation, but there is a trick we can use to put us in a calm and relaxed state.  For you to do the trick the following will be discussed:  

How the body gets out of homeostasis under stressful situations.

Common situations where 16 second breaths can return us to homeostasis.

How to practice this type of breathing.

How the body gets out of homeostasis under stressful situations.

The body responds to a perceived threat by preparing for fight or flight.  The threat can be real or imagined.  90 percent of our problems are imagined.  Only 10 percent are real.  The subconscious mind does not know the difference between the problems that are real or imagined.  The autonomic nervous system will be alerted either way.  The heart and breath speeds up.  The heart pumps blood to the legs and arms to prepare the body for fight or flight.  The blood gets stickier in case it needs to heal a cut.  The adrenal glands get activated and you get an energy high in case you need energy to defend yourself.   Intelligence decreases.  It is not a time to think, but act fast. 

Common situations where 16 second breaths can return us to homeostasis.

You might be working and a problem arises you do not know how to deal with.  You could be having a negative thought from the past that really gets to you.  You can be talking to someone strongly opinionated and defensive.  You can be around someone and they are destructively criticizing you.  16 second breaths help you deal with the flight or fight response to these things.  You are no longer activating the hormones of stress and can return to homeostasis.  When you are in homeostasis your nervous system is calmer, relaxed, and the body can focus on growth and repair.  The body has more energy to protect itself from internal threat like bacteria, viruses and toxins, and you can respond to external threats more intuitively.  You also have more energy to create. 

How to practice 16 second breaths.

16 second breaths are straight forward.  To do this practice, breath in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, breath out for fours seconds, and hold for four seconds.  Repeat this process as needed.  Anytime you are feeling uneasy from being in a stressful situation you can do this type of breathing.  You can do this anywhere at any time. 

We now know how the body reacts to threatening situations real or imagined, situations where 16 second breaths help, and how to practice it.  We can bring calm and relaxation into our work or the rest of our day.   The body prepares us for fight or flight in response to a stressful situation.  It can be from a thought or an external threat.   The threat causes the body to be out of balance.  The autonomic nervous systems, and adrenal glands are alerted to fight or flee, and intelligence decreases.  It is not a time to fight off internal threats like viruses, bacteria, and disease.  It is also not a time to think or be creative.   Threats can happen with our thoughts, at work, or when we are around negative people.  16 second breaths return us to a state of rest.  It is straight forward.  To do this practice, breath in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, breath out for four seconds, and hold for four seconds.  Repeat the process as needed.  Next time you are faced with or anticipating being faced with a stressful situation you have nothing to fear.  You can practice this type of breathing. 

There is a a big concern for beginner meditators. It is unwanted thoughts. What should you do if you have many thoughts during meditation? Handling it the wrong way will sabotage your meditation, there is a way you should handle it, and a reason behind the way. This will be explained in detail. I am not an expert on meditation, but I am sharing what I have learned during my study on meditation from experts, and it might benefit you.

The number one mistake in meditation is trying to stop all thoughts. Some beginner meditators have many thoughts during meditation. After several weeks of trying to stop the thoughts they are unsuccessful. They think they failed at meditation. The beginner meditators gets discouraged and stop their meditation practice.

Realize that you aren’t supposed to get rid of all your thoughts. The more you try to get rid of your thought during meditation the more it persists. Even expert Buddhist monks who have been meditating their entire lives have this problem. It is normal. Thoughts shouldn’t be seen as a failed meditation.

Thoughts are a part of meditation. You need a comparison point to know the moments your mind is still, known as the gab. You will drift back and forth between the gab and thought. You aren’t just meditating when your mind is in the gab. The moment you stop your thoughts, the moment you realize you are thinking, and the moment you bring your attention back to the object of your focus is all part of your meditation.

Now that I have explained in detail the answer to the question, “What should you do if you have so many thoughts during meditation?” how handing it the wrong way will sabotage your meditation, the way you should handle it, and the reason behind it you know what to do. Trying to stop your thoughts completely will sabotage your meditation. The more you resist thought the more it persists. The goal isn’t to try and stop the thoughts, but treat it like part of your meditation as a comparison point to know when you experience moments of stillness. Remember this when next you meditate or when you begin a meditation practice.