Mindfulness Meditation Lesson 2

Following Your Breath Discussion

What's been your experience with the following your breath practices? How often did you do them?

In order to improve your focus and concentration, it's important that you practice this every day. If you found yourself missing days or not doing it at all, if you want to get much out of this course you need to find a way to make a habit of doing the home practice. The best way to do this is to complete the home practice at the same time every day, and schedule it into your day so you don't only do it when you remember or when you have time.

If you weren't doing it on a regular basis, or even not at all, try not to be discouraged. Like anything new, many people find it difficult to get started and make a habit of it, so it's not unusual to not have done the practice as much as you'd have liked.

Have they helped you keep your attention focused on your breath? Do you find one of the versions more effective than the others?

None of these practices are a magic formula that ensures your attention never wanders away from your breath, but each of them help keep your attention focused on your breathing, and make following your breathing more "interesting" than just noticing the physical sensations of your breath at your abdomen. Since your mind has something extra to grab hold to, i.e. the counting or measuring along with the physical sensations, there is more to keep your mind in place.

Despite your best intentions, though, your mind will continue to wander, and that is not a sign you're doing something wrong, just a natural function of how our minds works. You may find one of these practices more effective than the others, or that different practices are more effective at different times. None is any better than the others, and they're not necessary if you're able to maintain your attention on your breathing relatively well without them. But even still, there will be times when you meditate when your concentration is less strong and focused and your mind wanders more, in which case returning to one of these practices while you're meditating can help refocus your attention and concentration.

Has your ability to pay attention on your breath improved at all over the course of the week?

If it hasn't, that's not a big deal. A week of practicing paying attention to your breath is not much time compared to a lifetime of breathing without even thinking about it. As long as you continue practicing paying attention to your breath, you'll start to get better at it, and even notice yourself doing it when you're not meditating.

Did you find that your state of mind when you start the practice makes a difference?

There are times when we're more relaxed and our minds are not busy and it's easier to just follow our breathing without becoming distracted. But if our minds are already racing, or we're experiencing a strong emotion, these thoughts or feelings tend to be more compelling than our breath, so they tend to capture our attention and make it harder for us to simply pay attention to our breathing. We’ll be discussing ways to manage thoughts and emotions that come up when we meditate in future lessons because this is a common challenge that we all face.

One thing that can make it easier to keep your attention focussed on your breath is to not let your mind get carried away in the first place. Try to think of meditations as a natural part of your day, rather than a special time completely separate from the rest of your life. While you meditate you're building your ability to be mindful, but you're also changing how your brain is wired (we call this neuroplasticity) in ways that makes it easier for you to stay mindful throughout the day.

And the more you're able to stay mindful during the day, the more success you'll have in keeping your attention where you want it when you meditate. And this is why making mindfulness a part of your everyday life, and not just something reserved for periods of meditation, is so important.