"You can not stop the waves, but you can learn to surf" - Jon Kabat-Zinn
When deciding on which type of meditation to practice, we always have the opportunity to try something new, but before we go out into the wide waters of altered states of consciousness, it is worth taking a closer look at the exercise, which is described by many practitioners as the concentration on the breath, or simply, as mindful breathing.
So how can we learn mindful breathing?
In the practice of meditation, mindful breathing consists of several elements or steps that we will briefly discuss now.
The most important element of mindfulness is that we need to return to here and now, which is often described as “getting back to the present”. Our thoughts are usually occupied with thinking about some past or future events but now we need to leave these thoughts, and return to the present. After returning, we further need to pay particular attention to ourselves, our body, and the space around us. Where are we? What is going on? What time is it? - we can ask.Then, we need to pay attention to our breath, making sure that we allow the breath to flow freely without any interference - if it is short, it's fine, and if it is long it is fine, too!
All we need to do is to realise that each breath consists of four phases: the first phase is the inhalation, the next – the breath retention, which can be completely unnoticeable by the way, then – the exhalation, and finally – a short suspending of the breath after full exhalation called the apnea or breathing space. Also, it is suggested that we need to follow each phase non-judgmentally, allowing for all feelings and thoughts to flow freely, and without trying to stop or to control them.
Once we become aware of the existence of these four phases that make up our "breathing waves", we begin to follow each phase attentively. So first we follow the inhalation and let our lungs fill with the air. Then, we pay attention to the short moment when the breath stops at the top of the inhalation, and further we continue our adventure with the exhalation, accompanying it up to the moment when it is shortly suspended again (the apnea). With each breath we repeat this process of attentive breathing.
In order to facilitate the conscious perception of these four phases, we can perform a simple exercise consisting of touching the thumb of the right or the left hand, the hand resting on our thigh, with the index finger for inhalation, then while in the phase of pausing of breath, we add the middle finger to the thumb and the index finger, further in the phase of exhalation - the ring finger, and finally in the last apnea phase – we touch the thumb with our small finger, so that now all our fingers are touching the thumb. In sanskrit, these four phases were called by the yogis: puraka for inhalation, kumbaka for pausing of breath, rechaka for exhalation, and sunyaka for the breathing space. In each respiratory cycle, we repeat the whole process till the end of the exercise.
Thus our cycle of breathing is:
puraka for inhalation – the index finger
kumbaka for pausing of breath – the middle finger
rechaka for exhalation – the ring finger
sunyaka for breathing space – the small finger
This way we continue breathing consciously, while the fingers help us to distinguish the phases of our breath. In the next stage, we pay attention to our body and the space around it. In the space around the body (the distance from the body surface of about 30-60 cm) there is our aura, as the ancient yogis would tell you . The aura is the extension of prana - the life energy, and is a part of ourselves. We do not need to decide here what exactly the aura is, and whether it really exists, because for the exercise it is irrelevant. Simply, we recognise the close space around us as a part of ourselves.
Now, in the inhalation phase (puraka), we pay attention to what is happening in our personal space - in the body and around the body. Do we sense any tensions, vibrations, tingling, pulsations etc. in our body? These are called kinaesthetic sensations, and they can be accompanied by feelings of joy, sadness, anger, and other emotions. And our task here will be to simply observe these tensions and feelings, and to accept them as they are without any judgment. Consecutively, in in the phase of exhalation (rechaka), we allow these tensions and blockages to leave our body completely.
INHALATION (puraka) - we pay attention to the tensions in our body,
EXHALATION (rechaka) - we allow the tensions to leave the body.
In order to facilitate this process, we can imagine how tensions leave our body flowing out of all body parts with the exhaled air, so that the body becomes more relaxed with every breathing cycle. It is important that this process takes place effortlessly, or in other words, we do not demand anything from ourselves. If any thoughts arise during this practice, and we get lost for a moment, we examine and accept them as they are without any judgement, and return to the practice again.
We continue our mindful breathing exercise for about 20 minutes, and after the exercise make sure that we are fully awake and alert. We may notice that our whole body and mind are more relaxed now.
Finally, we need to add that the essence of the practice of meditation lies in the regularity of that practice. Exercises are best done for 15-20 minutes every day , and if it is not possible, at least three times a week. Also, let us remember that we need to follow all breathing phases attentively accepting all our internal processes with self-compassion, and without any judgment.
That's all in today's article on the practice of meditation. If you skipped previous articles from my MEDITATION series, you can find them in the following links:
Meditation can change the structure of your brain in only eight weeks!
Learn to meditate - It's really easy!
AEIOU Mantra
This article is intended solely for physically and mentally healthy people, and its publication does not pretend to be a scientific publication, and is not a form of psychological or medical counselling, or a form of therapy. If you think that you may suffer from a mental or a physical disease, contact your doctor immediately!
[1] Picture from pixabay.com
[2] B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Pranayama, Harper Collins 1933