First of all you should be able to stay for at least couple minutes (and eventually maybe an hour or more if you're lucky to get there) without moving around so your body should have a good physical condition to keep staying upright.
You should feel comfortable with keeping the eyes closed eventhough this is not a must as there are some kind of meditations that you can do with open eyes or lowering the gaze... Keeping the eyes closed is one of the struggles that we have in our mind, it's not physical , it's a mental obstacle.
If these kind of things put you off doing meditation maybe you should start from the beginning.
I'll be talking about according to my own experiences and my own struggles here.
Most of people thinks meditation means having nothing in mind, not thinking about anything, so you have a blank mind which is impossible. This point deserves to be a seperate topic therefore I'll leave this here.
Begin with simple breathing practices...
ps: Read below script couple of times before hand to get familiar with so you will not need to check it durin g the practice.
I would like to remind that we will be observing the natural breath in this practice to be aware of the qualities of our own breath so don't push yourself to breathe deeper or longer in any way.
1. Observation of the Natural Breath at the Nostrils and taking it down to the navel...
You just need 4-6 mins a day ( or in two days) for 2-3 weeks.
preparation:
Find a comfortable seated posture; cross legged or kneeling or sit on a chair with the back straight.
Have the hands resting on knees or thighs, preferable eyes closed, or gazed down.
practice:
*** Draw your awareness inward, ignore all other noises/things around you. Prepare your mind for the practice. Make sure there is no tension in any part of your body and gently begin to observe your natural breath at the nostrils through below questions/awarenesses...
1) Is there any blockage in your nostrils? Can both nostrils take same amount of air?
· 2) How
is the pace of your breath? Is it too fast or too slow or somewhere in between?
· 3) How
is the depth of your breath? Is it shallow or deep? It’s okay if it’s not
deep, you are just observing the breath.
The natural breath.
· 4) Can
you feel the temperature difference between inhale and exhales? Which one is
warmer, can you identify ?
· 5) Is
there a noticeable difference between the length of your inhalation and
exhalation? Or are they equal?
*** Now, bring your
awareness to the throat and upper chest by keeping your natural breath.
· 1) Is
there any vibration in your throat? Do you force it ? Remember! You don’t have
to force anything, it’s just the natural breath.
· 2) Are
your shoulders still relaxed?
Shoulders and upper chest should remain still. They don’t need to move up
and down with your breath.
*** Now place
your left hand on to the ribcage and right hand on to the tummy, just below the
navel.
Bring your awareness
to the ribcage, to your left hand.
·
1) Can
you feel the very gentle movement here. The expansion as you inhale and
relaxation as you exhale.
Stay here and observe this gentle movement for couple breaths.
Imagine the breath flowing in the lungs.
Remember
it’s just the natural breath. Do not force it in any way.
*** Move your
awareness down to the tummy, to your right hand.
· 1) Can
you feel the expansion as you inhale and relaxation as you exhale?
Your tummy gets bigger as you inhale and then gets smaller as you
exhale!
Observe the movement for couple more breaths here.
Finally,
become aware of the whole breath. Imagine the breath flowing from the nostrils to the navel. The cycle of the natural breath.
The gentle
movement of the natural breath. (...)
Slowly
release your hands onto the knees.
Gently open
your eyes and let them get used to the day light.
namaste
sources: Farhi Donna, the Breathing Book Good Health and Vitality Through Essential Breath Work is one of my main sources when I do my breathing practices...
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