Meditation: How to Breathe

In Meditation the very first instruction is : "Breathe and relax."

Very few people breathe correctly. Really. We are shallow breathers. You breathe with your chest, right? How else would you breathe? With your Stomach.

You want to feel like you are pulling the air down through your lungs and out a little below your belly button.

1. Lay flat on your back. (This is optimal so you can see your belly moving, but works just as well sitting in a chair)
2. Place your hands below your belly button.
3. Breathe in slowly, trying to push your hands up.
4. Let the air flow back out slowly, on it's own. Your belly should return to it's original position.
As you practice you will be able to pull the air down to your hands by simply relaxing and allowing it to happen, and then the air will flow out on its own. And that's all there is to meditation breathing.

Tune in to your breathing throughout the day, and practice changing your breathing from chest breathing to abdominal breathing.

It is also important to learn to read your physical self. Your body will tell you if you are relaxed, content, anxious or depressed. Once you recognize your physical state you can learn to change it.

When your hands are tight, clench them into tight fists as hard as you can and hold them that way for a whole breath (both in and out using abdominal breathing). Then let them fall apart. Feel the first feeling of release. Practice this technique until you can reach the feeling of release by just relaxing your hands without having to clench them first.

Whenever your body feels tight:
1. Sit with both feet on the floor, shoulders back and line them up with your spine. (This is very close to the most common meditation posture)
2. Now relax them there and let your arms hang loosely in your lap.
3. Allow your head to hang forward.
4. Close your eyes.
5. Just breathe, slowly, and deeply.

Once you learn to relax your body you can place yourself in a receptive frame of mind to figure out what is bugging you. Your body is a great communicator. If your are writing away and your arm is screaming look at your hand. Exactly how hard do you really need to clutch that pen? When you are sweeping you may notice a headache. Stop for a moment. Are you clenching your teeth? You will be astonished at how tight your body has been.

Choose to listen to your body, to take time and relax the muscle groups that don’t need to be working, and ease off on the muscles that are active but using excessive energy.

Your mind tells your muscles to work. It can tell them to relax, too.


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