I usually meditate in the morning. For me it is after a cup of tea or coffee. I typically meditate for 10 minutes. I use the Insight Timer for timing and to keep track of the consistent days of meditation. I start off my meditation with some breathing exercises. I like the box breathing technique or alternative nostril breathing. After the breath work, I start the counting backward meditation technique. I started this after reading Erich Schiffman’s book, Yoga, The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness. It is one of my favorite yoga books. This is how he describes the technique.
“In this exercise you will be counting backward from fifty to zero, synchronizing the counting with your breathing. You’ll count the even numbers as you exhale and the odd numbers as you inhale. Begin by breathing in gently, fully. As you exhale, mentally say 50. As you breath in again mentally say 49, exhale 48 inhale 47 exhale 46….and so on.
Count backwards on both the in-breath and the out-breath until you reach 20, then count only on exhales. Silently count 20 as you exhale. Then instead of counting 19 on the in-breath, do nothing, just inhale. With the next exhalation count 19 and so one until you reach zero.
When you reach zero, stop counting, but stay aware of the natural flow of the breath in exactly the same way as when you were counting. Watch the breath as though you were going to count, but don’t count. “
Some days I count and do not lose track but other days I forget what number I was on and have to pick up with the last number I remember. Sometimes I over think how I am breathing and other days I just breathe and count. The important part is that I keep practicing. The idea in not perfection but to keep trying. The practicing is where we learn to focus and find calm.
Join me Monday monrings at 7 am through March 2021 for Meditations with April. Live on FB and IG