Breath Counting Meditation Practices (with Free Meditations)
Breath counting meditation is a fairly fundamental form of meditation practice. It helps us build concentration, gives us structure for our practice, and is easily accessible. The breath is always with us, and serves as a wonderful anchor for our awareness. Whether we’re sitting in formal meditation or taking a few mindful moments during the day, counting the breaths is a practice we can all incorporate into our mindfulness routine. If you’re looking for guided breath counting meditations, scroll down toward the bottom!
What is Breath Counting Meditation?
As you may have guessed from the name, breath counting is counting the breaths! There are multiple ways to do this and many ways to work with the breath in the general (such as the 4-7-8 breathing exercise), but the idea remains the same. We count the breaths as an aide in our concentration practice. It is not a practice that comes straight from the traditional Buddhist teachings, but has been developed by monks and teachers in the years since the Buddha’s time.
However, breath meditation is a crucial part of many Buddhist meditation traditions. It is included as a practice in the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, the Anapanasati (establishing mindfulness of the breath), and the discourse on establishing mindfulness of the body. It’s also believed that breath meditation is what the Buddha was doing when he awakened under the Bodhi Tree millenia ago.
In breath counting, we count each inhale or exhale (or both) and rest our attention on the sensation of breathing. In my opinion, the counting is a tool to help us gather our attention and keep it focused. At some point, we can perhaps let go of the counting and fully focus on the breath. However, I still start my concentration practice after years of experience with breath counting. So there’s nothing wrong with utilizing this meditation technique!
Benefits of Counting the Breath
Counting the breath, in my experience, is one of the best ways to introduce oneself to the practice of samatha, or building concentration. Concentrative practices benefit us in several ways. First, we quite clearly cultivate the ability to concentrate. But what does this mean? It means we can more easily choose where our awareness goes, stay present for the experience, and let go of distraction or outside thoughts/stimulus.
In addition, samatha practice leads to a calming of the mind and its mental objects. In Buddhism, it’s seen as leading to mindfulness, insight, and wisdom. As we continue to practice in counting the breath, the mind grows calmer and more at ease. With the one-pointedness of mind we develop, we’re able to look more deeply and closely at our experiences.
Let’s take an example. If you have never practiced concentrative meditation but want to practice mindfulness, you may find your mind bouncing all over the place. You want to be mindful of a thought but sounds keep arising and passing with force, dragging your attention away repeatedly.
On the other hand, with a strong concentration practice, you’re better able to pay attention to the experience of the thinking mind. Although you may notice the sounds arising and passing, the mind doesn’t hook into them or wander off quite as easily/quickly. You’re able to respond, not react to stimulus in and out of meditation with a little more ease.
Breath Counting Meditation Instructions
There are different ways to count the breath. I’ll offer a basic one here with some options for variations. If you want guided practices, scroll down where I have a few guided breath counting meditations.
Begin by finding a place to meditate. For the purpose of these instructions, we’ll do a sitting meditation.
Allow the eyes to close if you’re comfortable doing so. You can absolutely do this practice with the eyes open if it feels more comfortable or safer for you!
If you have a settling routine in meditation, go ahead and do it. If you don’t, you might begin by just tuning into where you are and what you’re experiencing. Feel your body sitting there, the clothes on your body, any thoughts or moods present, the sounds going on, etc. The goal here is to simply bring our awarness to the present moment and settle into meditation.
When you’re ready, bring your attention the physical sensation of the breath in the body. I recommend choosing a specific spot in the body, such as the tip of the nose, back of the throat, chest, or abdomen. As you settle in with the breath, try to focus on the actual physical sensations of breathing, not your thoughts about the breath.
And begin counting in your head! You can do this a few ways. I like to count each inhale and exhale, working up to 8 and then back down to one. So you inhale, count 1. Exhale, count 2. And so on up to 8. When you reach 8 (an exhale), the next inhale is 7. The following exhale is 6. This is my preferred way because it demands more attention than counting up to 10 and starting back at one.
You can also only count inhales, only count exhales, or count to whatever number you want!
Breath Counting Tips
Although this practice is fairly simple and straightforward, I do have a few tips for your breath counting meditation. Remember these tips are not for you to be reflecting upon during your meditation, but to be used when the time is right.
First, allow the body to breathe itself. This took me a long time in my early practice to be able to do, so be patient. When we focus on the breath, we may have a tendency to try to control the breath. Remember that the body is breathing itself all day long, without your input. Try to let the body dictate the breathing, rather than your mind or will.
Next, be gentle with yourself. When the mind wanders off, gently bring it back. Think of gently placing your attention on the breath rather than pinning it down on the breath. When we try to force the attention to stay with the breath, we grow tight and stressed and can actually hinder our own focus.
When the mind wanders, come back as many times as necessary. Going with the theme of gentleness, don’t beat yourself up. Think of it as an exercise for the mental muscle. Every time you gently bring your attention back to the breath, you’re strengthening that muscle! Try to see it as an opportunity rather than a problem.
Just do it. If you can’t find the perfect place to meditate or aren’t sure if you should meditate in the morning or at night, don’t worry. Just do it. Yes, a quieter place with solitude will probably be the most friendly to developing concentration. But wherever you are and whatever you have available is better than nothing. You can even count the breaths while walking or running as a form of moving meditation.
Finally, consider the entire breath. Try to feel the breath from the moment it starts, to the moment it ends. And the period between the inhale and exhale! Concentration is not just noticing the breath in the moment it starts; stick with the breath the whole way through. I’ve heard it compared to a singing bowl ringing. We can notice the initial ringing of the bowl, and the sustained sound it makes. In Buddhism this is called initial application (vitakka) and sustained application (vicara), and are the first two factors of deep concentrative states.
Guided Breath Counting Meditations
Guided meditation counting the exhales
Breath counting the inhales and exhales
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