Meditation Fine Breathing Technique
If you are new to meditation you’ve bee taught at least one breathing technique.
If you are already meditating you should be using diaphragmatic breathing. Any meditation expert will tell you to use this breathing technique.
You center your self using breathing through your belly button (or slightly below). I prefer through the middle lower quadrant, it’s very relaxing to breath in that low.
Anyway, diaphragmatic breathing is a given to meditation in all facets.
Now, that’s breathing, the act of inhaling and exhaling lets fine tune this a little more.
When I first started meditating, breathing properly, controlling the inhaling and exhaling was controlled, but very heavy. Breathing practiced during meditation will become your ‘normal’ breathing throughout your day.
Counting While Breathing
When I would breath, I would count to say 5, 8, 10 etc on the inhale, then depending on the method I was practicing.
I had recently listened to Swami Rama lectures on youtube and one thing he mentioned many times was “fine” breathing.
This didn’t click right away, the explanation made sense and I thought I was breathing correctly.
However, once upon a meditation I started focusing on the fineness of my breath and it kind of clicked.
Stop Counting
If you are counting when you breath in and out, the counting can force you to breath quicker.
I was breathing in as fast as I was counting which is the reason my breath wasn’t “fine”.
I was simply inhaling too quickly (throw me a bone here I had listened to tons of guided meditation and there was never one I listened to that didn’t say “breath in for X seconds” and hold your breath, (please dont hold your breath!!).
Slowing my breathing down and paying more attention to my breath, as it went down again, I was actually breathing out very very slowly.
This allowed an even greater exhale and the inhale that followed was so fluid.
If you think of your breath as a horizontal figure 8, you will start to feel on the exhale you slowly go toward the bottom and when transitioning to the inhale, it is so subtle yet, so empowering.
The same is true on the beginning of the exhale, but the feeling is not as strong(for me) as it is on the beginning of the inhale (if you have not experienced this pay more attention to your breath transition it is an incredible feeling).
1 and 2 of the 112 Sutras (Shiva’s 112 ways)
“Lo, Radiant one, this experience may dawn between two breaths, After breath comes in (down) and just before turning up (out) the beneficence.”
“As a breath turns from down to up, and again as breath curves from up to down through both these turns, realize.”
The fineness is simple and once you do it you will surely continue, especially during meditation.
It’s like you are going deeper and deeper into your breath (maybe I missed something earlier in my practice and this was the point no one openly mentioned, lol).
So the fineness. The fineness comes from how slowly, how softly you breath. Paying attention to the center of your nostrils doing this will create an incredible feeling.
Breath slowly, finely without pause and your meditation practice will be even more joyful!