You can do breath awareness meditation while lying down, sitting down, or standing. Sitting down is the standard meditation position, but you might find it better to lay down, so you are not distracted too much by painful physical sensations. Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed for at least 30 minutes. It is not necessary for the place to be completely quiet. Sound is part of the meditation. It does not have to be dark either. It does not matter because you will be closing your eyes. Get an alarm clock to time yourself. When you are starting out as a new meditator do not meditate for too long. Pick a time that you know will be easier and more automatic. Slowly increase the time as it become more automatic for you. The instructions to meditate are as the following:
- Get into your meditation position. Keep your back straight. Relax your body. Allow your tongue to touch the roof of your mouth and your eyes to roll up slightly.
- Start breathing in and out through your nostrils. Do not time your breath. Just breathe naturally. Focus on each breath as you breathe. Observe the inhale, bridge, exhale, and bridge. Feel the air coming into your nostrils and out of your nostrils.
- You are going to get distracted by physical sensations, thoughts, and sounds. It is okay. The distractions are part of your meditation. When you realize you have been distracted and are no longer focusing on your breath gently bring your attention back to your breath.
- You are going to shift back and forth between thoughts and the breath. In the place where there are no thoughts is called the gab. You are not going to know that you are there when you are there. It is only when you come back to a thought you know you were there.
- Do not try to control the outcome of the meditation. You are not trying to accomplish anything and nothing as to happen during your meditation. Just relax and surrender to whatever unfolds. Do not worry about perfecting your meditation. The only wrong meditation is the one that you do not do.
- It is our natural state to be happy. Meditation helps you be in that happy place. You experience your true self without the ego. You experience unbounded unconditional love.
- Keep practicing the meditation for the duration of your meditation session. You want to be comfortable. If you need to scratch your nose do so. If you want to open your eyes to see how much time you have left on the clock do so.
If you miss a day of meditation, do not worry. Just pick up the next day. You are still going to get accumulative results of the meditation. Over time as you do the meditation, you will begin to have less stressful days. Meditation builds grey matter in the brain that serves as an insulator against emotional shock. Experiment with your meditation. Expand on what you are previously doing or what you know about meditation to stay motivated.