Guided Meditation · Free Resources

Breath Counting

One number at a time, until the mind has something to hold.

Watch the breath is famously unhelpful advice for a mind that will not stop. Counting gives it a job. The job is small, dull and impossible to do while also rehearsing an argument, which is exactly why it works.

Sit with Aparna

Audio Session

A guided breath-counting practice for a busy mind.

Aparna is recording this one. Until it arrives, the written practice below will carry you.

Recording coming soon

What it's for

Asking an agitated mind to simply observe is asking a lot. It will observe for two breaths and then return to the thing it was chewing on. A count is different. It has a next number, and losing your place is immediately obvious.

Losing count is not the failure. Noticing you have lost count is the moment of practice, and it will happen many times in ten minutes. The counting is a device for producing that moment over and over.

How to practice

Five to ten minutes · seated

One to ten, then start again

Count on the exhale, not the inhale. The out-breath is where the nervous system settles.

  1. Sit with your back upright and your shoulders loose. Eyes closed, or lowered.
  2. Breathe normally. Do not lengthen or deepen anything yet.
  3. At the end of the first exhale, count one, silently. At the end of the next, two.
  4. Continue to ten, then start again at one.
  5. When you find yourself at seventeen, or realise you stopped counting altogether, go back to one without commentary.
  6. After five minutes, drop the counting and sit with the breath alone for a few rounds.

If this is more than a hard day

Lemon Dojo teaches meditation. It is not therapy, medical care, or a crisis service, and a practice is not the right tool for an emergency. If you are struggling to keep yourself safe, please reach a person today rather than a page.

Where to go next

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