To skip intro go to 1:25

0:00 Introduction
0:40 Instructions
1:25 Meditation

This is a guided breathing meditation to help you overcome distractions by getting grounded in your body as well as strengthen your focus and concentration. With regular practice meditation can help you to train your brain to become less distractible in the rest of your life too.

The meditation is 20 minutes long. The first 15 minutes is guided and then there’s 5 minutes alone for you to build your focus ‘muscle’ by returning to your breath whenever your mind wanders.

If you find it difficult to stay with your breath (don’t worry you’re definitely not alone!) – here are 3 tips for focus that might help (choose whichever appeals most to you – or try them on different days)…

1/ Count your breaths:
Count each inhale and exhale up to the count of 10…start on an inhale (count 1), exhale (count 2), inhale (3), exhale (4) and so on up to 10. If you lose count or count too far return to 1. This is great for training your focus. In some Buddhist traditions monks would have to master this, to develop their focus and powers of concentration before they were allowed to move on to any other form of meditation.

2/ Visualize a ball of light:
Visualize a ball of light in your belly. Imagine as long as you stay with your breath it glows bright, being charged like a battery from the breath. If you get distracted the light dims and you have to return to the ball of light to make it bright again and keep it bright. In many meditation traditions it’s believed that the breath carries subtle energy that is stored in an energy center in the belly.

3/ Use the music as an anchor:
(this will be easiest if you use headphones)
When we focus on our breath we’re using it as an ‘anchor’ for our focus. You don’t have to use your breath as the main anchor when you meditate, instead you can use another point of focus like a part of your body, a candle flame, a visualization like the ball of light above – or you can use music as the anchor for your attention. To do this, bring all of your focus to what you can hear. Whenever your mind drifts or wanders come back to the music and let your mind completely rest on the sound. Keep bringing your focus back to the music whenever your mind wanders.

Bonus tip: Relax…it will really help!
When our body is relaxed there’s a natural stillness the starts to emerge. If you try too hard to still your mind it can prevent a natural stillness emerging. Give your body and mind time to naturally settle. So be gentle with yourself and if your mind wanders, relax, it’s completely ok.

Each time you let go of a distracting thought, or pull yourself back from a mind wander by focusing on your breath – you’re strengthening neural networks and rewiring your brain for better focus. If you meditate regularly you’ll find it easier to focus while your meditating…and the rest of the time too.

Here are some more meditations that are great for developing focus….
7 Min Meditation:    • Calm Your Mind in Under 10 Minutes | Guide...  
10 Min Meditation:    • 10 Minute Guided Breathing Meditation to C...  
20 Min Meditation:    • Breathe into Stillness | 20 Minute Meditation  


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Original music and vocal by Caroline McCready.
Copyright 2020 - Caroline McCready all rights reserved