Mindfulness of Breathing – Journey 1 Week 2
I seem to have settled into a routine of two meditation sessions a day, of around 20-25 minutes each. I can’t do any longer at the moment as my legs and back start to get too painful. I think mentally, I’ve had enough by then too as it’s hard to bring the focus back after about 20 minutes.
Concentration was better during the first half of the week, so I stopped counting breaths and had some ‘good’ sessions mid-week. When I say ‘good’, I mean I felt more relaxed and focusing on my breath felt more natural.
Counting breaths is great for attracting the attention of your mind, but it can become a bit forced. I found that I was focusing on the counting and the breathing was falling in to line behind the counting. Breathing ends up following an unnatural rhythm and it’s harder to relax.
Something that occurred to me was a possible reason why my mind is generally always chattering away in a frenetic way. As I get a lot of head colds and my sinuses are always sore, I wondered if the mind keeps extra busy to distract attention from the uncomfortable physical feelings in my head. The trouble is that continual racing thoughts also become uncomfortable!
During the last couple of days, I seem to have gone backwards and my breath seems far away again. Not sure why, although my head feels a bit fuzzier. I will have to switch back to counting to get back on track.