Overview of the practice

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

After you’ve read this you can work your way through the practice one stage at a time, reading the background information we offer, and listening to the guided meditations on RealAudio.

The Mindfulness of Breathing practice is in four stages. After setting up your posture you become aware of the physical sensations of your breath. Whenever your mind wanders, gently bring it back to the breath. Then:

Stage One: Count after each out breath. Start at one, placing one number after each exhalation. When you get to ten, then start again at one.

Stage Two: Do the same as in the first stage, but counting just before each in breath.

Stage Three: Drop the counting, and just follow the breath as it flows in and out.

Stage Four: Narrow your focus until you are concentrating on the sensations of the breath flowing over the rims of your nostrils.