Moments of Tranquility - Breath Counting

Welcome to Moments of Tranquility - a series of free meditation & relaxation MP3s for you to download and enjoy.

Today's super simple meditation exercise is breath counting, a technique often used in Zen meditation practice.

All you need to do to try it is sit in a comfortable position with your spine straight and a slight smile on your lips to relax your face.

Close your eyes, and rest your tongue against the roof of your mouth as if you were going to pronounce a word beginning with the letter "l".

Now take a few deep breaths and let tension drain away from your shoulders and concentrate on breathing steadily, slowly and quietly.

To begin breath counting, count "one" to yourself as you exhale, and the next time you exhale, count "two", on the next exhalation count "three" and onwards until you reach the number five.

Then begin a new cycle, starting again with "one" on your next exhalation. Try and breath deeply, steadily and quietly again up to five and then begin again. Try and keep your attention on counting and breathing.

Download a FREE guided meditation MP3 of this exercise here