There is really no question that breathing exercises are the cornerstone of any good meditation program. Sometimes those who want to get on to the more advanced elements of meditation such as the use of the mantra or visualization underestimate the value of their breathing exercises. The danger here is that if you do not give this part of your meditation regimen it’s proper time to prepare your system for meditation, none of those other elements will do you a bit of good.

It isn’t too much of a stretch to say that most people who fail at putting a meditation program to work in their lives, do so because they don’t have the patience for the breathing exercises that are so important to the discipline of meditation. Proper incorporation of breathing disciplines are so central to a strong meditation program that it is really out of the question that you could have success without giving this part of your program its proper dedication.

So it is appropriate that we spend a little time on how to make your meditation breathing exercises pay off.

A Proper Understanding

The first step toward empowering your breathing exercises to impact your meditation program properly is to understand why the focus on breathing is so crucial to any meditation program. Because you breath all the time, it is easy to underestimate the impact how you breath has on your general well being.

You can get a good feel for the relationship between breathing and your state of mind by thinking of what happened to your breathing the last time you were upset. Whether it was from fear, anger, anxiety or depression, invariably if you are in a state of mental and spiritual anxiety, your breathing will become shallow and irregular. In fact, for most people who do not make controlled breathing a staple of their lives, the breathing of a normal adult can be highly erratic during the course of any given day.

By the same token, that negative or disturbing emotions causes erratic breathing, taking control of your breathing can directly control your mood. In that way good breathing exercises are the most effective meditation process of them all because you can go through a virtual transformation in a matter of moments of controlled breathing. When you capture control of your breathing, slow it down and teach it to give you a steady, soothing flow of oxygen, your heart rate will stabilize, the oxygen level in your blood gets richer and your mind works better. So your state of mind will both elevate and become more focused and tranquil. And that is the perfect way to enter into a meditative state. Breathing exercises enable that process.

When is it Enough?

A big mistake people make when designing their meditation program is setting a time for how long you will be in each phase of your program. When you say, “I will do my breathing exercises for five minutes”, you are imposing a scheduling limit on something that could take more or less time to work.

Instead, a good breathing exercise should be measured by its effect rather than a time frame. Remember, you are not baking a pie here. You are seeking some measure of spiritual and mental peace and that may take ten minutes or an hour. Whatever it takes, you should plan to allocate sufficient time to your breathing exercises so they will work.

Breathing and Focus

Your breathing exercises are the first step of bringing the focus of your concentration to bear and taking control of that focus. As you settle into your meditation discipline, you will take a number of long slow cleansing breaths. It is during these that you envision your body being cleansed of all negative energy with the exhale and filling with good energy with the inhale.

After the cleansing breaths, you will settle into a pattern of steady deep breaths that are consistent, satisfying and measured. You will focus on the drawing in of air and the exhale working to think of nothing else. This has a powerful effect of calming the mind and causing less important issues to depart for this period of time allowing you to give your breathing exercises perfectly focused attention.

If by chance you doubt the value of thinking of your breathing, think of how you council someone in emotional turmoil. You always help them focus on their breathing so they will settle down and become rational. Remember, the breathing exercise is not the end of the meditation session. Soon you will use that improved focus for more sophisticated and complex concentration exercises. But those would not be possible had you not used your breathing exercises to quiet your mind and enable it to hone in on one focus point. You can attribute all of the success you have later in your program to those early breathing exercises.

The Breakthrough Point

It is very common later in your mediation program to experience an “epiphany” or a breath through. This is a natural event that comes from the outcome of your vastly improved ability to focus your thoughts. There are also physical benefits from your breathing exercise that will sometimes result in a rush of energy. Breathing exercises combined with posture and mental focus can cause profound improvements in how the spine interacts with the rest of your skeletal system. So you may feel a sudden rush of energy that drives up your spine and bursts into your mind.

This phenomenon is well known even to the ancient philosophers and religious gurus who taught meditation. It can be an amazing experience and when you get that breakthrough point, it is a big turning point in the progress of your meditation program. And you facilitated that wonderful break through moment through your studious adherence to a well-designed and stubborn devotion to your meditative breathing exercises.

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