Breathing is a powerful tool for developing your meditation. Focus on the breath is often one of the first techniques taught to new meditation students. Unlike other points of meditative focus, you can take your breath with you anywhere. Learning a few simple breathing exercises can make your meditation sessions more satisfying and increase the stress-relieving benefits.
Observing the Breath
The best way to start using your breath as part of your meditation practice is to simply observe it. You can do this by counting the breath. This may take a few attempts. It is natural to lose focus before you even count to ten. If this happens, simply start over. With practice you will be able to sustain your attention longer. Also try simple observation of the breath. Noticing the sensation of the exhale and the inhale at your nostrils.
Three-Part Breath
Once you have mastered simple observation of the breath, try noticing the different parts of the breathing process. Break your inhale into three distinct parts by inhaling up to the belly-button, pausing, taking in more are up to the chest, and then filling the torso through the upper collar-bone. Exhale in the opposite fashion. It can help to picture your torso as an empty glass of water, filling up magically from the bottom to the top on the inhale, and emptying from the top down on the exhale.
Alternate Nostril breathing
A study conducted at the Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation found that "uninostril breathing" that is inhaling and exhaling using one nostril while blocking the other has specific effects on the nervous system. Inhaling through the right nostril and exhaling through the left is energizing, while the opposite is calming to the nervous system. This practice is used as a mediation technique to balance energy before sitting.
Breath Retention
Breath retention is another method for managing your energy during a meditation session. Holding your breath at the top of an inhale for a second or two will energize you, while expelling the breath completely and holding before the next inhale will calm the nervous system. Use these meditation breathing techniques to drop into meditation anywhere, anytime.
References
- Let's Meditate
- Dirga Pranayama
- Yoga For Depression; Amy Weintraub; 2002
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