Sitting and the breath

In this episode

• Choose a quiet place and sit either on a cushion or a chair, feet flat.
• Sit tall, spine rising, shoulders down, eyes soft, either closed or half‑open.
• Notice the breath, count each out‑breath to ten, and gently return when mind wanders.

Read along

*[Sound: early morning, a few birds, a soft room tone. Hold 4 seconds.]*

Namaste, and welcome to Breath and japa. This is lesson one of seven.

Before we begin, one practical word. If you have a health condition, are pregnant, or are recovering from an illness, ask your doctor before you take up breath practices. In this lesson we do nothing unusual with the breath. We only notice it. Still, your body knows best. If anything feels uncomfortable, stop, and simply rest.

Today is about two things: how to sit, and how to notice the breath you already have. Later lessons will bring in a mala, and your own mantra, the one you already keep, or one given by your family or your teacher. Not today. Today is just sitting.

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**Where to sit.** Choose a place that is fairly quiet, where no one will need you for a few minutes. It does not have to be a puja room. A corner of a bedroom is fine. So is a balcony.

**How to sit.** You have two good choices.

On the floor: fold a blanket or take a firm cushion, and sit on its front edge, so your hips are a little higher than your knees. Cross your legs in whatever way is comfortable. There is no prize for the hardest posture.

On a chair: sit towards the front of the seat, so your back is not leaning on the backrest. Put both feet flat on the floor, about hip-width apart. If your feet do not reach, place a book or a folded cloth under them. A chair is a complete and proper way to sit. Many elders sit this way, and so can you.

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**The spine.** Now let the spine rise gently, as if a thread at the top of your head were lifting you a little towards the ceiling. Tall, but not stiff. Let the shoulders drop away from the ears. Rest your hands on your thighs or in your lap, palms down or up, whichever feels easy. Let the chin come in, just slightly, so the back of the neck is long.

Steady, and easy. Those are the only two words you need for posture.

**The eyes.** You can close the eyes softly. Or, if closing them feels strange, keep them half open and let the gaze rest on the floor about a metre in front of you, not looking at anything in particular. Both are right. Let the muscles around the eyes and the forehead soften.

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**The breath.** Now, without changing anything, notice that you are breathing. Breathe through the nose if that is comfortable. Do not make the breath longer or deeper. Do not hold it. Just watch it, the way you would watch a river from its bank.

Feel where you notice it most. Perhaps the cool air at the nostrils. Perhaps the belly rising and falling.

Now we add a simple count. Each time you breathe out, count one number, silently, in your mind. Breathe in. Breathe out, one. Breathe in. Breathe out, two. Up to ten. Then begin again at one.

If you lose count, and you will, that is not a mistake. That is the practice. Notice that the mind wandered, smile at it, and start again at one. Losing count and coming back, losing count and coming back: this is how attention is trained, very gently.

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Let us sit together now, for about ninety seconds. I will be silent. You will hear only a little music. Sit tall and easy, eyes resting, and count each out-breath from one to ten. I will speak again when the time is up.

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Gently now, let the counting go.

**How to end.** Take one slightly fuller breath in, and let it out slowly. Move your fingers and toes. If your eyes were closed, open them slowly, and look first at something near you, then at something far away. If you sat on the floor, uncross your legs before you stand, and stretch them out for a moment. Get up slowly.

Notice how you feel, without judging it. Calm, restless, sleepy, ordinary: all of it is fine. You sat. That is the whole lesson.

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Until the next lesson, try this once a day. Two or three minutes is enough. The same place and the same time help, but they are not rules. In lesson two we will add a mala, and begin to bring in your own mantra, quietly, in your own voice.

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This narration uses an AI voice. The lesson follows a teacher's step list, written by the DharmikStudio team.

*[Sound: birds again, softly. Fade.]*

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