A Beginning Meditation

This is a basic breath-counting (or breathing and mantra) meditation. If you don’t already meditate, then if you do no more that this, it will be valuable to you. And if you wish, it can serve as a foundation for the rest of the meditations in the series.

In this you do no more than breathe, notice your breathing, count your breaths, and let go.
As you breathe, on the inbreath [DEMO] you will count One.
On the Outbreath [DEMO] You will notice the words and pictures that appeared in your mind on the inbreath and let go of them. Release all that mental “stuff.” I sometimes think of all that as the contents of a washing machine that’s slopping around in your mind. Everything you see and hear in your mental washing machine, you let it go.

Then you breathe in again [DEMO]. As you do, focus on the number TWO. And as you breathe out [ DEMO] you will find that AGAIN in the course of just half a cycle of breath, words and pictures have formed themselves in your mind. Let go of them. You’re gradually clearing your mind.

And then, number THREE on your inhalation. Once again, visualize the number or hear it in your ears on the inbreath. Then on the outbreath, allow everything that’s formed itself on the inbreath to FLOW AWAY.

Now, continue in the same way with the numbers FOUR through TEN. Just ten breaths in all. This time, I’ll count the numbers and guess that you can breathe on your own at about the same rate I do, counting on the inbreath and releasing on the outbreath for the next seven breaths. And then you can go off and do it by yourself

This is a foundation on which the whole spectrum of meditations is built. It all rests on this foundation of noticing your breaths. And counting them. Or if you prefer, you can move into using a mantra instead of counting .

So here we go, four through ten. Now, be comfortable. Then,

FOUR . . breathing in. Then breathing out and letting go. Sense your breath.
FIVE . . . breathe in. Then as you breathe out let all those words and images go.
SIX … breathing in… then clearing your mind.
SEVEN ..breathing in…letting go …. Noticing your mind being emptier.
EIGHT … in … out
NINE … in.. out
TEN … in… out

Now, Look around you. ou may find that you can see and hear what’s going on around you more clearly and sharply than you could before those ten breaths.

That’s the beginning of meditation. Welcome to the series, and I hope you enjoy the rest.