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First, find a quiet place and sit comfortably with your back straight. You may either use a chair or sit cross-legged on a pillow on your bed or the floor.
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Take several deep, cleansing breaths through your nose, breathing into your abdomen so that your belly expands like a balloon, and exhaling fully.
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Spend a minute getting relaxed. Feel the tension draining from your muscles.
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When you are relaxed, on the next in-breath, count silently to yourself, ?one.? When you exhale, think, ?two.? Inhale, ?three.? Exhale, ?four.?
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Continue counting as high as you can without allowing any ?interrupting thoughts? to intrude. An interrupting thought is any thought other than the counting of your breaths. You might think, for example, ?This is a waste of time!? or ?I wonder what?s for dinner?? and so on. When interrupting thoughts do occur?and they will!?gently but firmly push them out of mind and start counting again from ?one.?
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Use this exercise for 3 to 30 minutes twice a day. If you experience excess strain or anxiety while practicing that does not go away after a minute or two, that is a good time to end your meditation.
If you are like most people you will not get far before you have to start over.
While practicing, try not to think about the past or future, but remain focused on the present moment and the simple practice of counting your breaths. Pay particular attention to the gentle, quiet spaces between breaths. There is a sense of pure awareness that can be experienced through this practice, and it is this space that leads to the most profound realizations.
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