As you do, listening deeply, you will find the breath helping to connect and quiet your whole body and mind. There will be many cycles in this process, stormy days alternating with clear days. Over weeks and months of this practice you will gradually learn to calm and center yourself using the breath. Like training a puppy, gently bring yourself back a thousand times. When your breath becomes soft, let your attention become gentle and careful, as soft as the breath itself. Calm yourself by relaxing into the breath. As you sit, let the breath change rhythms naturally, allowing it to be short, long, fast, slow, rough, or easy. Later on in your meditation you will be able to work with the places your mind wanders to, but for initial training, one word of acknowledgment and a simple return to the breath is best. Before you return, you can mindfully acknowledge where you have gone with a soft word in the back of your mind, such as “thinking,” “wandering,” “hearing,” “itching.” After softly and silently naming to yourself where your attention has been, gently and directly return to feel the next breath.
When you notice this, no matter how long or short a time you have been away, simply come back to the next breath. After a few breaths your mind will probably wander.
Feel the sensations of your natural breathing very carefully, relaxing into each breath as you feel it, noticing how the soft sensations of breathing come and go with the changing breath. Take a few deep breaths to sense where you can feel the breath most easily, as coolness or tingling in the nostrils or throat, as movement of the chest, or rise and fall of the belly. Bring your attention to feel the sensations of your breathing. Let go of any habitual thoughts or plans. At first feel your body and consciously soften any obvious tension. Let your body be firmly planted on the earth, your hands resting easily, your heart soft, your eyes closed gently. Find a posture on the chair or cushion in which you can easily sit erect without being rigid. It can bring a regular cleansing and calming to your heart and mind. Daily meditation can become like bathing or toothbrushing. Later you can sit longer or more frequently. Begin with sitting ten or twenty minutes at a time. If evening fits your temperament or schedule better, try that first. If you are a morning person, experiment with a sitting before breakfast. Then select a regular time for practice that suits your schedule and temperament. Let yourself enjoy creating this space for yourself. You may wish to make a simple altar with a flower or sacred image, or place your favorite spiritual books there for a few moments of inspiring reading. Arrange what is around so that you are reminded of your meditative purpose, so that it feels like a sacred and peaceful space. Place a meditation cushion or chair there for your use. It can be wherever you can sit easily with minimal disturbance: a corner of your bedroom or any other quiet spot in your home. “ESTABLISHING A DAILY MEDITATION First select a suitable space for your regular meditation.
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