In this video I will lead you through an easy fifteen-minute guided meditation on your breath. This meditation is ideal for beginners (and even experienced practitioners) who have trouble concentrating on their breath. When it comes to meditation, our biggest distraction is our thoughts. This breathing meditation, called Qualified Rounds of Breath, is designed to use our tendency of having thoughts to our advantage. Here, we concentrate on our breath but deliberately generate thoughts to aid our meditation. This meditation also helps us to breathe in something positive and breathe out something we really need to let go of.

This should not be seen as a replacement of the more traditional Theravada Buddhist meditation technique of simply concentrating on the breath, but merely as an alternative for when our minds are especially active or when we are in need of something a little more inspiring.

This meditation can also be used as an effective form of therapy for dealing with day-to-day problems. When something happens during our day which gives rise to feelings of anger, resentment, stress or worry, it can be difficult to put the brakes on these emotions and we can find ourselves overwhelmed and unable to enjoy the rest of the day. This practice gives us a mechanism to change our mental patterns and encourage wholesome thoughts and eliminate the emotions that are troubling us.

In this meditation, as we inhale, we can choose to breathe in a nice memory to uplift our mind, or we can use words as inspiration. Some of my favourite combinations for positive/negative thoughts in this meditation are:

Breathe in – Hope
Breath out – The Past

Breathe in – Kindness
Breath out – Hurt

Breathe in – Faith
Breath out – Doubt

Breathe in – Wisdom
Breath out – Ignorance

Breathe in – Peace
Breath out – Conflict

Other suggestions for positive thoughts to breathe in are:
Love
Compassion
Happiness

Other suggestions for negative thoughts to breathe out are:
Stress
Anger
Fear
Worry

There are many combinations you can choose from, these are just a few suggestions, and your preferences will likely change according to your daily circumstances. There are really no wrong combinations provided you bring in something wholesome and positive with the in-breath, and breathe out something negative and unwholesome with the out-breath.