One of my this year resolutions is to meditate again. So I started doing Vipassana meditation in the morning when I wake up. I found I was better at it when I was younger. I used to be able to sit for one full hour with relative ease. Nowadays, trying to sit for even twenty minutes has become a pain in the ass. The problem is that I am able to concentrate less now. My mind just wanders off way too easily. Whenever I try to concentrate on my breath random thoughts start flashing into my mind. Oh whatever happened to that missing Malaysian flight, let me cook up my own theory. We need to buy more of those mango juice that Kiki (our two-year-old daughter) drinks. Gee … I still haven’t booked our flight for the upcoming vacation, etc.
Recently I started reading a book called Mindfulness in Plain English. In it, there is a section on how to deal with those type of mind wandering off. It suggests four counting techniques. Here the one that works the best for me.
The third method of counting is to counting secession up to ten. At this time count “one, two, three, four, five” (only up to five) while inhaling and then count “one, two, three, four, five, six” (up to six) while exhaling. Again count “one, two, three, four fire, six seven” (only up to seven) while inhaling. Then count “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight” while exhaling. Count up to nine while inhaling and count up to ten while exhaling. Repeat this way of counting as many times as necessary to focus the mind on the breath.
The book is fantastic. If you are serious about Vipassana meditation that book will help you tremendously. You can read the free online version here.