Posted by alexandra_k on October 6, 2006, at 21:38:36
In reply to Re: mindfulness breathing exercise » alexandra_k, posted by Deneb on October 6, 2006, at 18:25:38
> The breathing meditation didn't work for me, it just made me hyperventilate. I became *too* aware of my breathing and I sort of started to freak out about if I was breathing too shallow or too deep or not fast enough or too fast. :-(
Thats terrific!
You were doing it exactly right and then you encountered your first hurdle in meditation.
Meditation is... A series of hurdles. The point of meditation is to gain some experience in overcoming hurdles so that you are better able to overcome the ones that life throws at you. That is what is hard about it... And that is where the benefit lies. Everyone experiences their own unique hurdles, but there are considerable similarities between people too.
The first time I did the exercise I found the same thing. Here is what my t said do me:
You are alive. That means that you breathe just fine. If you weren't breathing just fine then you wouldn't be here.
So... You don't need to worry about your breathing because you are going to be just fine. Worst case you hyperventilate so much that you pass out and resume breathing normally. So you don't need to worry about your breathing.
What happened was... That you were doing great :-) You were focusing your attention on your breathing... You can't focus *too much* attention on it because the whole point is to focus *all* your attention on it to the best of your ability. Then what happened was that your attention became distracted from your breathing to your thoughts. When you realise that is happening then refocus your attention back to your breathing without judging yourself for having been distracted.
Every distraction is a hurdle. Meditation is about the process of taking control and losing control and taking control and losing control and taking control of your attention. Like weight lifting. Thats how you strengthen your attentional capacity.
That is (ultimately) how you are going to be able to refocus your attention on other things when you become distressed.
This is why it is important for me to get back into doing this too. So I can refocus my attention from my head circles and horrible thoughts.
Shall we try it again...
Just for a little while... Round about 30 seconds or 10 in and out breaths... Just observing how you are breathing rather than trying to change it. If you catch yourself trying to change it or worrying about whether you are doing it right then just divert your attention back to observing your breathing... Until you are done.
:-)
poster:alexandra_k
thread:691052
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20061005/msgs/692541.html