How to concentrate on Breath during Meditation?

For a beginner in meditation, focus on breath can be sometimes be quite tricky. Especially if your meditation technique uses a mantra. So now you got 3 things to focus primarily on – The technique, the mantra and the breath. So lets fuse the 3 and keep the focus on meditation.

Fuse Breath and Mantra

Let us take a general approach regardless of the meditation technique you follow.

1. Inhalation : During inhalation imagine the breath through the nostril for the duration of one mantra. For example, if you are inhaling for 5 secsand using the mantra Om/Aum, mentally chant the mantra for 5 secs. Either 5 chants of om or a single om extended for 5 seconds. I recommend using a single om extended for 5 secs.
2. Retention :  If your meditation technique involves retention of breath. Imagine the mantra and the breath get absorbed at the point of concentration. If there is no particular concentration point, just stay aware of both the breath and the mantra.
3. Exhalation : Always exhalation should be both longer and slower than inhalation. When you exhale imagine the breath out of your nostril.

Note: If you are comfortable with visualization, the breath can be visualized as one color and the mantra as another. When the breath and mantra are fused together it will form a new color.

Meditation Script to improve concentration on breath

Steps

The follow script is all about awareness of breath in alternate nostrils and doesn’t require you to close your nostril physically.

Image 1

1. Inhale through Left Nostril (awareness of breath in the left Nostril) while at the same time sync the mantra mentally. Feel it being collected at the center of the eye brow.
2. Now hold the breath for a few seconds comfortably and repeat the mantra. Feel the mantra and the breath (prana) being absorbed at the center of the eye brow.
3. Exhale through Right Nostril (awareness of breath out of the Right Nostril) + Sync Mantra.

Image 2

1. Inhale through Right Nostril (awareness of breath in the Right Nostril) while at the same time sync the mantra mentally. Feel it being collected at the center of the eye brow.
2. Now hold the breath for a few seconds comfortably and repeat the mantra. Feel the mantra and the breath (prana) being absorbed at the center of the eye brow.
3. Exhale through Left Nostril (awareness of breath out of the Right Nostril) + Sync Mantra.

This is one round. Do as many as you feel comfortable with.