When sitting in meditation we assume a posture that feels just right, one that is balanced and relaxed. We should lean neither too far left nor too far right, neither too far forward nor too far back. The head should be neither raised nor drooping and the eyes should be closed just enough that we don’t feel tense and uptight. We then focus awareness upon the sensation of breathing at three points: the end of the nose, the heart and the navel. We focus awareness, firstly, on following the in-breath as it passes these three points – beginning at the nose, descending through the heart and finishing at the navel – and then, secondly, on following the out-breath in reverse order – starting at the navel, ascending through the heart and ending at the tip of the nose. This preliminary means of focusing awareness can be called ‘following the breath at three points’.
Once we are mindful of the in-and-out breathing and proficient at focusing awareness on these three points, then we continue by clearly knowing the in-breaths and out-breaths just at the tip of the nose. We maintain awareness of the sensation of breathing by focusing on only the end of the nose.
Sometimes, as we focus on the breathing, the mind wanders off thinking and fantasising about the past or the future, and so we have to put forth effort to maintain this present moment awareness of the breath. If the mind is wandering so much that we cannot focus our awareness, then we should breathe in deeply, filling the lungs to maximum capacity before exhaling. We should inhale and exhale deeply like this three times and then start breathing normally again. As the in-breath passes the nose we count, ‘one’; as it passes the heart, ‘two’; the navel, ‘three’. With the out-breath we count ‘one’ as it moves up from the belly, ‘two’ as it passes the heart area, and ‘three’ at the nose-tip. We should count in this way until we are skilled and proficient. This is the first method of focusing awareness upon the breathing.
Alternatively, we can focus our awareness using the second method of ‘counting in pairs’. We count ‘one’ as we breathe in and ‘one’ as we breathe out. With the next in-breath we count, ‘two’, and with the out-breath, ‘two’. Then, in – ‘three’, out – ‘three’; in – ‘four’, out – ‘four’; in – ‘five’, out – ‘five’. Firstly, we count in pairs of in-and-out breaths up to ‘five’. After the fifth pair we start again at ‘one’ and increase the count of in-and-out breaths one pair at a time, for example: in-out, ‘one’; in-out, ‘two’; in-out, ‘three’; in-out, ‘four’; in-out, ‘five’; in-out, ‘six’. After counting each new pair of in-and-out breaths we start again at ‘one’ and increase the pairs incrementally up to ‘ten’. Using this method we will be aware of whether our mindfulness is with the counting – totalling the numbers correctly – or whether it is distracted and confused.
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