Also, dont judge yourself, the idea is to be, just be.
1) Inhale
2) Exhale
If your mind starts drifting bring your focus back on your breathing and put all of your attention on your breathing pattern.
1) Inhale
2) Exhale
If you lose focus, bring your focus back to deep breathing. Deep breath in then deep breath out.
When you first start your mind will wander everywhere but with practice it’s easier to get your mind in a peaceful trance.
For me it will typically take at least 30 minutes of breathing concentration to start feeling the peacefulness and relaxation.
That means 30 minutes of you having to refocus your mind when it starts to think about being bored.
Meditation
1) Inhale
2) Exhale
For 30 minutes
Set a timer first just for 3 min, then extend by 7 min. Go slow at yourself at first.
The goal is to push yourself but not to the point where you start hating meditation.
Hope this helps! I’m still a novice at this meditation thing. 🙂
To begin, you will find it helpful to drink some water. A small amount to moisten your mouth and to get fluid into you. Then, do a few gentle stretches. If you are a yoga person, you don’t have to go thru the Sun Salutation, but maybe do a warrior pose, then go to a triangle pose, then do a cobra and a cat stretch, and end that with a child’s pose.
Sit back up, quickly stretch with a head to knee pose with the left leg out, then the right out. Cross your legs and sit. Breathe in about seventy per cent deep, instead of stretching your lung and pleural cavity to 100%.Breathe in one more time, relax. Circle your head to the left and right. Ok, you’re ready.
Why did I tell you to do that first? You just want to meditate, right? Well, experience has taught me that if you don’t loosen up a little, you will start with a stiff body, which will increase the chance of distractions brought on by your circulation not being moved around first. Your body will be better st holding still.
Here is what you really were asking for, which is, what do I concentrate on, something about what do you think about. The answer is… your breath. Start by slowly inhaling yo 70% of total air volume. If you’re a professional trainer or a pulmonary technologist, we are describing Vo2 70 vs Vo2 max.
1. Relax
2. Slowly close your eyes.
3. Breath in, and focus your attention on the feeling of the air entering your nostrils. Does it feel cool or warm? Does it feel good, like a nice tranquilizing feeling?
4. As you slowly inhale, try counting to yourself:1…2…3
Pause for 1/4 sec, then allow the breath out. How does it feel? Your belly inflated, right? Gently squeeze the belly, abdomen wall trying to push to the spinal cord.Thats all you need to you now. Only try for five minute, and after two weeks you can try ten minutes. Then, twenty minutes.
Let me know how it goes, ok? Let me close here by telling you: if you have an itch, scratch it. If you need to adjust your leg to get comfortable, please do that too. You will have thoughts popping up, just think to yourself, ok, I see you. But I’ll get back to you later. That’s it for now. Watch how much your concentration improves. It’s really cool. Good luck! Tell me how it goes. Say” Hey Rick, it worked. Or Hey Rick, that sucked”
Well, guess what? Man, it’s all good! This is a great practice! Good luck! I’m counting on you! Sorry, no pun intended! Peace and blessings!!!
Try to accept the mind’s wanderings as important opprortunities to practice coming back to your breath.