Mindfulness Exercises 1-4

Human condition is characterized by activity. Slowing down the speed of our life enables us to experience our breathing in and breathing out. If we do not do so, our breath goes on automatically without our awareness of it. Buddha's prescription for the suffering humanity is to slow down enough to experience our breating in detail. Buddha assured us that good things happen to us if we regularly slow down to become breath aware. Slowing down is the only antidote to our activity disorder which has been the bane of humanity since times immemorial. Sooner the better; we better start developing breath awareness from an early age.

This set of four exercises is concerned with the development of mindfulness of the body using that of the breath as a tool. Mindfullness of the body is the first fruit that we reap if we regularly engage in fully aware breathing.

Exercise 1: This is the very basic exercise meant to create an awareness in the young learner to know what an inhalation is by actually breathing air in through the nostrils and what an exhalation is by actually breathing air out through the nostrils. Breathe in and know that you are breathing in, Breathe out and know that you are breathing out.

Exercise 2: This exercise is meant to create an awareness of what a short and shallow breath is, and what a long and deep breath is. Pull a lot of air in through your nostrils and be aware of the experience of a deep inhalation; expel a lot of air out through your nostrils and note the experience of a deep exhalation. Similarly, tale a little bit of air in through your nostrils and be aware of the experience of a short and shallow inhalation; expel a little bit of air out through your nostrils and note the experience of a shallow or short exhalation. Once we are aware of the experience of shallow breats and deep breaths, we will experience that the with increasing breath awareness, our breath automatically becomes deeper.

Exercise 3: This exercise is meant to be aware of your breath and the body together. The purpose seems to be to prepare the learner to create an awareness of what happens in the body when one takes a short or a deep breath.

Exercise 4: This purpose of this exercise is to notice the bodily sensations when one breathes in with awareness and what happens to the sensations of the body when one breathes out with awareness. Volitionally breathe in and notice the body getting calm and volitionally breathe out and notice it getting calm. Normally we breathe in and out without our volition or awareness. When there is no awareness of breathing, there is no awareness of the accompanying serenity or its opposite, stress happening in the body either. With the awareness of the difference between shallow and deep breaths, one begins to notice the association of the depth of the the calm resulting from breath with the depth of breathing; deeper the breath, deeper the calm.