Basic Breath Meditation

Breath Meditation, Breath Awareness Meditation, Anapanasati

Breath meditation also called Breath Awareness Meditation, or Anapanasati, focuses on the breath. It is a basic meditation that strengthens your spiritual core and is good for beginners to start with.

It is better to meditate for many short sessions in the beginning. As time goes on and you progress the session will lengthen.

Continuity is important. Daily practice is better than weekly practice.

A good sign of progress is that a meditation session seems much shorter than it really was. If it seems a long time and it was only a short time then it is a sign you should shorten your meditation session.

Benefits of Breath Meditation

Breath meditation will expand your consciousness.

Breath meditation will reduce stress and anxiety, lead to greater emotional control, improve memory, increase compassion, and increase focus.

Changes occur to the brain that can be seen on brain scans.

There is a thickening of brain tissues in the areas of emotional control. Also various other changes have been observed.

Breath meditation strengthens your psychic (spiritual) core. It will help with all other meditation goals.

Breath meditation will strengthen your ability to stay awake during meditation and remember the experience. This helps you to stay awake during astral projection and to remember the experience.

Breath meditation will help lucid dreamers to remember the experience and to stay lucid during wake induced lucid dreaming (WILD).

Breath meditation is a basic exercise that helps teach the mental discipline required for the meditative effort.

Breath meditation is good for beginners to start with and for everyone to do on regular daily basis in order to exercise your psychic and spiritual core.

Nose Breathing

It is best to breathe through the nose at all times. If your nose is a little stuffy breathing in and out through it all the time will help clear it up.

For more information on the importance of nose breathing and the breath in general read, "Science Of Breath" available at Amazon in book form for a small price and available online in eBook form for free:
Science Of Breath (PDF version with added section on yogi philosophy found in some but not all print versions)
Science Of Breath (HTML version)

For those who have clogged sinuses there is a cleansing process that involves taking water in through the nose and expelling out the mouth. This is called Neti. There are a variety of variations. There are a lot of instructions available online. Be sure to use distilled water with a bit of added salt. Tap water may not be good for the sinuses.

Nose vs Belly

Some say focus should be on the tip of the nose others think it should be on the rising and falling belly. I recommend starting with the tip of the nose. Focus on the feeling of the air at the tip of the nose as it goes in and out.

Focus on the rising and falling belly can be done by those whose sinuses are too clogged to breathe through. And it can be used by those who prefer that technique.

Sensations During Meditation

Meditators often report feeling various sensations during meditation. Twitching, itching, tingling, and other sensations and strong emotions.

Just observe these sensations and let them pass.

These sensations are your physical and subtle bodies filling with healing energy. Energy imbalances and blockages are being corrected. You are releasing negative energy, stress, traumatic experiences, negative feelings, negative thoughts, negative miasms and other negative energies.

For more on sensations during meditation see my video Odd Sensations and Strong Emotions From Meditation

Basic Breath Meditation

Use a quite place. Sit in a comfortable position. Sitting is preferred rather than lying. Lying down is OK however one is more likely to fall asleep. It is most important to keep back straight to prevent sleepiness and back strain.

Breathe in and out through the nose. Relax. Breathe in relaxation and positive energy. Breathe out tension and negative energy. Bring your awareness to your feet release all tension in your feet. Move your awareness slowly through your whole body, legs, stomach, back, arms, hands, shoulders, neck, face, head. Release the tension and relax as you breathe in and out.

Breathe from the area below the navel. Bring your attention to your breath. Breathe in through your nose. As you breathe in the area below your navel, front, back and sides should expand outward. Breathe out. As you breathe out, the area below the navel contracts inward.

Keep your awareness on your breath at the tip of your nose. Continue to breathe. As thoughts come into your mind acknowledge them and bring your awareness back to your breathing.

As feelings arise note them and move your awareness back to your breathing.

Final Note

In addition to breath meditation I strongly suggest Rhythmic Breathing as described in "Science Of Breath" and the Prana distribution and other healing techniques in that book.

Science Of Breath (PDF version with added section on yogi philosophy found in some but not all print versions)
Science Of Breath (HTML version)

"Science Of Breath" is a small but powerful book. It will only take a short time to read. Read it again and again. It is more informative than it seems.

If you like "Science of Breath" there are also other books by Yogi Ramacharakara for free in eBook form:
Yogi Ramacharakara books

I would start with "Science Of Breath" then read in the following order:

"Fourteen Lessons In Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism"
"Advanced course in Yogi philosophy and oriental occultism"
"The Science of Psychic Healing"

Then read all the other books listed.

Most Karmic Beats videos are suitable for breath meditation. You can pick one that has to do with a meditation goal such as:
Healing
Meditation
Chakra Balancing
Study, Focus, Concentration, Memory Improvement
Astral Projection, Lucid Dreaming, OBE, etc.
3rd Eye, Pineal Gland
Sex
Sleep
Misc

While it is good to use binaural beats when in Breath Meditation, it is not absolutely necessary. If you find yourself in a situation where you do not have any beats available, go ahead and do Breath Meditation without them. It is important to do the meditation with or without the beats.

The Karmic Beats YouTube channel has many videos for you to choose from and more being added on a regular basis.

If you do not know what to pick, I suggest these two:

One Hour 4Hz Theta Binaural Isochronic

Focus & Study I (One Hour Binaural & Isochronic Beats for improved memory, reading & spelling)

For astral projection this one is quite popular:

One Hour 6.3Hz Theta Astral Projection OBE Binaural Isochronic

For lucid dreaming this one is quite popular:

Lucid Dreaming I (Isochronic beats Theta and Gamma Lucid Dreaming, Astral Projection, OBE, etc.)

Sex is quite popular:

Sexual Vibrations I - Seduction Mindset (One Hour version, Isochronic beats)

No matter which videos you use, be sure to meditate daily and include breath meditation in your everyday practice.

Namaste