Control the Breath, Control the Mind

I woke up this morning and sat down to meditate. I was in a little bit of a hurry, so I decided I would get right to "the good part."

So I said a few oms and proceeded to go to that state of being.

It started well. I started smiling a little...

But shortly after I'd begun, I realized I was in the middle of a thought. It was a good thought, but a thought nonetheless.

Realizing that, I let it go. After all, thoughts happen - it's a part of meditation.

Then another thought came which I found myself engaging with. My mind is active this morning! It took a few moments to disentangle myself from it, and then I entered back into meditation.

Then another and another came, all quite vibrant and with more frequency than normal. What was going on? Why was I so distractible this morning?

I realized the problem: I had skipped the deep breathing part of my meditation.

"Control the breath, control the mind." I had forgotten the importance of this, and thought I could just rush through my practice.

All the little rituals we do in our practice have good reasons, which we sometimes forget. Meditating at the same time every day for consistency, chanting om, doing cleansing breathing exercises, deep breathing, counting to help elongate the breaths, etc., are all important parts of a solid meditation practice.

Even with deep breathing, thoughts will come, but they are more manageable and easier to let go, along with the emotions that are sometimes attached to them.

Enjoy your practice.