The first step towards practicing meditation is learning to breathe in a manner that facilitates a state of calmness and awareness.
- If you are sitting, keep your spine straight and let your shoulders drop.
- Focus your attention on your belly, feeling it rise or expand gently on the in breath and fall or recede on the out breath.
- Every time you notice that your mind has wandered off your breathing, notice how it took you away and then gently bring your attention back to your belly and the feeling of the breath coming in and out. Your job is simply to bring your mind back to your breath every time, no matter what it has become preoccupied with.
- Practice this exercise for 15 minutes at a convenient time every day, whether you feel like it or not, for one week and see how it feels to incorporate a disciplined meditation practice into your life.
