Thread: For meditation, how do you focus on breathing?

There is no wrong way to meditate. If you think believe you are meditating, you are.

I just find somewhere comfortable, and think about ___.

That's really the only way I can describe it. good luck.

but hey say not to think about any, totally blank, not one thought, monks says this on youtube,...Monks!

Hey Some Kid,

I have been meditating almost everyday for the past month and a half and would say it has benefited me immensely. I found that the key is 'mindfulness'. You're on the right track with focusing on breath. It's our bodies built in mindfulness device. Mindfulness is not about wiping your mind clean of thought and feeling, but rather being as aware as you can be of what's going on inside you and around you. The key is trying to maintain this awareness without bringing judgment to the thought or feeling. When you notice a thought arising, whether it is good or bad, you can just view it and observe its source and direction. Allow it to just pass over you. You can then return to your breath. Counting helps some people. Count 1 for each exhale up to 10 and then start over. If you find your mind wandering let it pass it and begin again at 1.
The amazing part is that you can bring this mindfulness to everything you do during your day and if you get overwhelmed you can always return to your breath.

The book The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh will really help and you can read it online here.
http://books.google.com/books?id=-Su...result#PPR5,M1

Good luck and I encourage you to try and make a time for your practice everyday even if it's just 10 minutes.

Peace

i will try counting

Was going to post a link but for whatever reason, the website I have in mind isn't working.

But here's a simple one I've been trying and I enjoy it, especially when I have the patience to practice regularly (similar to what DreamByDesign mentions).

1. Sit comfortably, this can be on a chair or on the floor.
2. Allow yourself to breathe, from the diaphragm, don't force or control your breathing.
3. When your mind wanders, just label it as 'thinking' and calmly return to the breath.

After a while you'll get to this great stage where your thoughts don't bother you at all like they might do in daily life. This might take some patience to get to though, but it's worth it.

Originally Posted by some kid

i will try counting

Name stealer.



I declare internet piracy charges against you. RIAA, take him out.

your some guy...im some kid... you have 4 x's... i have alot ex's

Originally Posted by some kid

your some guy...im some kid... you have 4 x's... i have alot ex's

They are both based off of the same principal of anonymity. So..ha.

who gives a shit. my bands name is " Some Kids" thats why I chose it

Well, I'll take that as a compliment. How sweet you named a band after me! I forgive you for your sin, my child.

(I'm not actually angry. Just noticed you were new.)

Yes, I do.

yes you do?

Originally Posted by DreamByDesign

Hey Some Kid,

I have been meditating almost everyday for the past month and a half and would say it has benefited me immensely. I found that the key is 'mindfulness'. You're on the right track with focusing on breath. It's our bodies built in mindfulness device. Mindfulness is not about wiping your mind clean of thought and feeling, but rather being as aware as you can be of what's going on inside you and around you. The key is trying to maintain this awareness without bringing judgment to the thought or feeling. When you notice a thought arising, whether it is good or bad, you can just view it and observe its source and direction. Allow it to just pass over you. You can then return to your breath. Counting helps some people. Count 1 for each exhale up to 10 and then start over. If you find your mind wandering let it pass it and begin again at 1.
The amazing part is that you can bring this mindfulness to everything you do during your day and if you get overwhelmed you can always return to your breath.

The book The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh will really help and you can read it online here.
http://books.google.com/books?id=-Su...result#PPR5,M1

Good luck and I encourage you to try and make a time for your practice everyday even if it's just 10 minutes.

Peace

Great advice; going to try working with this method tonight :]

I've attempted meditation a few times in the past. No more than a couple of days in a row, only because I couldn't sit for long enough without thinking too much or wandering off.

I did accomplish what I thought was a deep meditation one of those times. I don't remember how I got there, but I was deeply calm and almost unaware of my surroundings (what I want to accomplish).

A good way to start out with breath meditation is to focus on breathing out slowly and breathing in fully. Its good at first to count the seconds it takes to breath out and in. You should be breathing out for more time than you breath in, and the in breath should be a physical reaction. For instance, it takes you 15 seconds to expell a full breath, and then you take your next full breath in 5 seconds, completely filling your lungs. As you breath, make each breathe a seperate occurance, and don't keep track of how many breaths you take. Focus all your attention just on the one breath you are currently taking.

You don't need to imagine the oxygen going in to your lungs so much as actually feel air entering your lungs and feel how each breathe effects your body. Feel your diaphram pulling on your lungs, feel your chest expand, feel the subtle changes in your heart rate as your lungs are filling and emptying. Basically occupy your mind solely with that one breathe and what it means to your body, and then do the same thing for the next breathe and the next, etc... It is important to keep each breathe as a seperate instance; it helps keep your mind from creating a sequence, which can lead to a narrative about breathing and in turn allow your mind to wander along that narrative. If you are just taking one breathe and thinking about one breathe, it is a lot easier to keep your mind just on that one task and nothing else.

I think of it as a piston in my chest, moving up and down, like a ball in a pipe, rolling from top to bottom, then back to top again, not being controlled by gravity, propelled by itself alone. Think of the breathing, but don't control the breathing. Watch, don't touch. Fell, don't grasp.

~

hey man uhm dan yeah i try to do the same thing you do but that means putting the picture in your head of your breath going up and down and thats why i made this post

Originally Posted by some kid

hey man uhm dan yeah i try to do the same thing you do but that means putting the picture in your head of your breath going up and down and thats why i made this post

wat

Oh, go into the Sleep and Health forum. Do a search for a thread called "99 breathes to relieve a wandering mind"

I will definitely check out that thread Ninja. I was about to hijack this thread and ask "How can you shut up your brain TO meditate"?
I try counting backwards from 100 but that's to fall asleep...

I listen to hate music and scowl at the weak, pathetic, hypocritic, idiotic people of the world. That usually calms me down.

Originally Posted by Zhaylin

I will definitely check out that thread Ninja. I was about to hijack this thread and ask "How can you shut up your brain TO meditate"?
I try counting backwards from 100 but that's to fall asleep...

The bike continues to go for as long as you peddle.

*bah* and *harrumph* I am no good with illustrations and riddles, Cloud
Do you mean to say, I'll go on thinking for as long as I'm counting?
When counting backwards, I count each breath I take backwards. But I often catch my brain trying to distract me with thoughts, so I try to focus on the counting. My brain is constantly yammering away. I constantly hear my own voice in my head pointing out one thing, wondering about another, stewing and simmering on yet some other worry or care.
But try as I might, I can never soothe my inner chaos unless during an act of self-injury which I am successfully trying to get out of the habit of using. *Controlled pain* is the only thing that will clear my mind and then it doesn't last long. I don't know of any other means

I did a search the hard way. I couldn't remember all that was written here so I went to Sleep and Health and tried searching "99" but it was too short. I came back here, copy and pasted the exact wording, went back to the thread and it refused to reset itself and kept thinking I was still looking up just "99". Even refreshing the page didn't help. So I looked through the thread and finally found it. It is EXCELLENT. I'm going to try it out tonight.

Sorry.
I mean thought will continue for as long as it is propagated by you.

"How can you shut up your brain TO meditate"
Shutting up the 'brain' is not the point, since you are the one talking.

Meditation is without thought.