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1) Choose a relatively quiet place and sit in a comfortable position that will allow you to meditate and breath easily for up to twenty minutes, relax and close your eyes.
2) You now need to release any muscular tensions you may have. To do this, tense and relax your muscle groups, starting with the right side then the left. Start by tensing and releasing the muscles in the right foot, then the left. Continue in the same manner to the calve muscles, knees, thighs, buttocks, lower back, upper back, abdominal area, chest, hands (clench and release a fist), forearms, upper arms, shoulders, neck, face, scalp. By tensing and relaxing the muscles, you ensure that you release any tension within those muscles that you may not have been aware of.
3) Now mentally scan your body inwardly and release any other subtle tensions that may remain, by tensioning and releasing the muscles in that area as before.
4) Take a deep breath and let it go with an audible sigh. Let your stomach area relax to give the breath room to move, and start breathing in the 4-2-4-2 rhythm as practised in the introductory section. Inwardly observe your breath flowing through the nostrils, observe the actions of inhalation and exhalation, feeling the differences in air temperature, pressure, and moisture content. Notice any difference that may exist between the left and right nostrils, but do not try to control the breath in any way, simply observe its properties.
5) After five minutes or so of this, imagine as you physically breath in that you are inhaling through your navel, the breath rising up to fill the throat and lungs. Similarly, imagine as you physically exhale, the breath falling back down to be 'exhaled' through your navel. Imagine this flow with each breath you take, but do not exert any effort to control the breath itself. Duration and depth of breaths may be quite variable, but do not make any effort to balance them out, as you need pay no attention to these aspects of your breathing.
6) As you allow yourself to imagine your breath rising and falling in through the navel, visualise your breath being like the waves on the beach. The breath flowing in and up with the encroaching waves, and then down and back out to sea with the retreating waves. If you can actually do this on a real beach, so much the better.
7) Emerge slowly from the meditation. Sit quietly with your eyes open for a minute do not rush to get up as you may feel unsteady.
This exercise usually results in the breath effortlessly becoming deeper, smoother, and quieter. This gradual change takes place in its own time. It is not forced, but occurs in natural response to the images in our minds. Because the breath flows in both the abdomen and the chest, we are encouraged by our bodies to be in a state of relaxed alertness. The important thing in this exercise is to hold the attention upon the imaginary movement of the breath without making any conscious effort to change the depth, duration, or movement of each breath.
