Breathing Meditation

Every Meditative techniques aims to relax and feel the peace and calmness within. The purpose of breathing meditation is also to calm the mind and develop inner peace. Breathing meditations alone can be used or as a preliminary practice to reduce our distractions before engaging in a  in deeper meditations

Simple Breathing Meditation

When we begin with the meditation, it allows your mind to be clear and lucid by stopping all the distractions, being in a quiet place and sitting in a comfortable position for meditation allows mind to relax.

Important instruction to be followed in this meditation is to keep the back straight, so the mind remains alert rather than falling into sleep. The body posture can be the sitting position following the crossed legged posture or any posture that is comfortable.

This practice is done by simply sitting with our eyes partially closed and turning the attention on to the breathing. Breathing naturally, through the nostrils, without attempting to control the breath, and becoming aware of the sensation of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. This sensation is the object of meditation. During the meditation focus is on the breathing, excluding everything that comes by.

Initially the mind seems to be occupied with too many thoughts or the meditation is making our mind more occupied with thoughts, in reality this meditation helps us to be more aware of how we keep our mind actually busy.

One may find it difficult to come out of the temptation of following the thoughts, which can only be curbed through the focus we put on the sensation of breathing. During the meditation if the mind wanders channelize it again on to the breath. Repeat this process as many times as necessary till the mind settles on the breath.

Breathing meditation practise with patience gradually helps in the distraction of our thoughts. Our thoughts subside and we feel a sense of inner peace and relaxation. Our mind starts to feel spacious and refreshed.

When the sea is rough, sediment is churned up and the water becomes murky, but when the wind dies down the mud gradually settles and the water becomes clear. In a similar way, when the otherwise incessant flow of our distracting thoughts is calmed through concentrating on the breath, our mind becomes unusually lucid and clear. We should stay with this state of mental calm for a while. With this practice, it is possible to experience inner peace and contentment just by controlling the mind, without having to depend at all upon external conditions.

When the turbulence of distracting thoughts subsides and our mind becomes still, a deep happiness and contentment naturally arises from within. This feeling of contentment and well-being helps us to cope with the busyness and difficulties of daily life.

So much of the stress and tension we normally experience comes from our mind, and many of the problems we experience, including ill health, are caused or aggravated by this stress. Just by doing breathing meditation for ten or fifteen minutes each day, we can be able to reduce this stress.

We can experience a calm, spacious feeling in the mind, and many of our usual problems will fall away. Difficult situations become easier to deal with, and we naturally feel warm and well disposed towards other people, and our relationships with others gradually improve.