I've got this blood pressure meter. In addition to giving you the usual systolic and diastolic readings, there's a LED indicator and a color coded scale. Feeling a bit stressed, I checked my blood pressure and much to my suprise, my blood pressure was in the red zone. Ouch! So... I immediately did 5 minutes of deep breathing and... checked again. Back again. That quick! Well into the green zone. Nice. Meditation works!
So... let's start at the beginning. Take a deep breath... Hold for 1 or 2 seconds... Exhale.
Now, do that three times. Stop reading this. Go! Do it.
Back again. Okay. That was easy. Next is the real test. I want you to do the same thing again. Take a deep breath. Inhale comfortably fast. Hold for a second or two. Then comfortably exhale. BUT... this time I want you to KEEP COUNTING.
See how far you can get before your mind wanders. As soon as you realize that your mind had wandered away from counting your breath, try to remember you last and highest count. Good. Start again. Start counting from 1. Again, see how far you can get before your mind wanders. It's more difficult that it sounds. If this is your first time doing something like this, try to get to 20. That would be good.
This just show us how busy the mind is. How easy the mind is distracted by all the wonderful sensations and thoughts that surround up. Every day. All day long. Every minute.
Now here's the challenge. Can you spare 5 minutes? This can have a very positive impact on your health AND peace of mind. Continue practicing this little exercise, each time striving to count more more breaths before you mind wanders away.
How did you do?
