Mindfulness of Breathing – Journey 1 Month 2 Summary
It’s definitely been a better month, as illnesses have subsided and it’s felt like meditating has been more successful and also more enjoyable. I’m still doing two sessions a day of between 20 and 30 minutes. I’m glad I seem to have settled into a routine.
Awareness of my breath has been better, sometimes feeling as though the breath is close and clear. Unfortunately, as my breathing has generally become more relaxed and quieter, it’s been harder to detect. This is not so much of a problem with the in-breath, as this tends to be shorter and more powerful than the out-breath, and the colder air going in to the nostrils is more noticeable. The out-breath is gentler and slower and at body temperature, so it seems to disappear completely at times.
Concentration has improved overall, with some sessions seeing very few major disturbances. There is still a lot of low level ‘noise’ that I’m aware of when watching the breath but this doesn’t tend to take my focus away. I’m still getting a lot of sessions though where my mind is very distracted and it’s much harder to concentrate.
There seems to be a bit more space and clarity in my mind at times, especially near the end of some of the better meditation sessions. It would be good if I could stay meditating for longer in these sessions to build on this but I seem to naturally come out of meditation after about 30 minutes, and it seems very difficult to go back into that state then.
In everyday life, I feel less irritable in general and slightly more content but I don’t know if I can attribute these to the meditation, or whether it’s just a natural variation in mood.