Our most simple meditation exercise is breathing and counting.
When we meditate, we sit straight, to widen our chest so we can breathe more deeply, and to be more alert, more focussed, more in control. Choose a number that you will be able to count up to, slowly and silently as you breathe in. Then hold your breath for two counts in the same rhythm, then count to the same number as you breathe out. That is the entire exercise: do not think of anything else and do not allow any distraction to disturb your focus.
Some people find the very idea of just breathing and counting, dull and boring. If we feel something is dull and boring, we will not be inspired to practice at all. Or if we do practice, we will do so reluctantly and half-heartedly, and derive practically no benefit. So let us try another approach.
Love is the most powerful magnetic force, drawing all our being towards the object of our love. Think of anything that you love to do. If you love an activity, you are eagerly thinking about that activity and ready to dive into it, and once you are engaged in it, you don’t want to stop. Someone who loves to garden, just wants to spend all their time gardening, because they love it. People who love football, want to play football, and then when they’re finished, they can’t wait to talk about it, and then to watch the replays, then dream about it, and the next morning, it’s all football again.
Love is a superpower, the secret of success and progress in any field. We all have love within us, it is our very essence. So let us employ this superpower in our breathing and counting exercise.