Basic exercise I: Monitoring of respiration

The first basic exercise of meditation is respiration-monitoring. This is also useful because it is always available, you can not leave it at home, or forget it.

By controlling your breathing, you can control your physical and your emotional state as well. Different breathing techniques have different effects. In meditation, breath-monitoring is used to calm the mind and increase concentration. In stress management, the conscious control, moderating and slowing of respiration, helps to rebalance the physiological and emotional state. Hence in the basic exercises, we use the neutral observation of natural respiration and consciously-guided breathing as well.

A typical person breathes on average 17 to 18 times per minute. However, there is a therapeutic breathing zone, which is achieved if we manage to bring this respiratory rate down to 10 breaths per minute. In this breathing zone, self-healing and regenerative mechanisms of the body can start, so the breathing is not only relaxing but curative as well.

Give it a try! Have a go!

(We do this exercise sitting on a chair with our back straight, without leaning against the back of the chair!)

Soundtrack  (coming soon) >>