Instructions
Be aware of the inhalation, a pause and the exhalation of your natural breathing. During the meditation there will be several minutes of silence in order to have the time to develop a calm mind with the instructions.
Meditation
- Place your attention on the breath, letting the breath be natural.
- Be aware of the breath as you inhale, pause and exhale.
- Turn the mind to counting the exhalations of your breath from one to ten and continue to repeat counting from one to ten with each breath. Inhale, pause, exhale, count.
- If your mind wanders as you count to ten, gently come back and start at one again.
- Notice for a moment if you are distracted by your thoughts or if you are sleepy.
- Return to placing your attention on the breath and the counting.
- Remain focused yet relaxed.
- Is the mind calm with vivid attention on the breath while counting?
- Stop counting and rest with a calm mind.
After Meditation
- Were you aware of many thoughts?
- Or did you find you became sleepy?
- Was there a stability of awareness of the breath while counting? Did your mind calm immediately?
- Or did you find it took a few minutes to calm down?
- Or not at all?
- Did your mind appear distracted by your thoughts?
- Were you free of reacting to your thoughts for a moment?
- Were you able to count from one to ten?
- Did you have moments of not judging thoughts?
- Did you find you wanted to engage with a thought that appeared and you wanted to remember it for later? For instance, wanting to remember to do something in the future.
During the Day
Notice when your mind goes to pleasant and unpleasant thoughts. No need to judge, just to familiarize yourself in being able to see how frequently the mind moves between pleasant and unpleasant thoughts. If you find you are disturbed by a thought, turn your attention to being aware of your breath. In that moment does your mind appear to be less agitated by the thought?