Finding the Center Within Your Breath

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By Fred L. Miller, reprinted with permission

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If you want your life to be more satisfying, so that you can have more satisfying relationships, read this book.

Fred Miller is the author of "How To Calm Down Even If You're Absolutely, Totally Nuts" and the forthcoming Warner Book "Five Minutes to Peace of Mind."

Breath is the first requirement of life. Before food, before water, you need your breath. You don't leave home without it. You couldn't if you wanted to. Because it is always with you, you can use your breath as a point of concentration or focus. Here is an easy exercise that can introduce you to using breath to reduce stress and enhance your sense of well-being.

Keep your eyes open. Keep reading. Keep breathing.

Become of aware of where the air enters and leaves your nostrils. You will be able to feel a spot where the air first touches your nose. This is a tactile, sensual feeling of friction as the air brushes across the skin inside your nostrils—the very first place that air touches your skin.

Do this as you continue to read. Don't follow the air down into your throat and lungs, just concentrate on your nostrils. Pay no attention to how cold or warm the air is. Disregard any odors. Just keep bringing your attention gently back to where the air is entering and leaving your nostrils. If you can't breathe through your nose, make a small opening with your lips and feel your breath as it crosses your lips.

You may suddenly become very conscious of the movement of your chest. That's fine, but keep bringing your attention back to where the air is entering and leaving your nostrils.

In and out. In and out.

Let yourself become absorbed with the air entering and leaving your nostrils. Short breath or long breath—observe, but don't judge.

In and out. In and out.

If your mind wanders, fine—recognize the fact. Don't feel guilty. Just allow the mind to come back to where the air is entering and leaving your nostrils.

In time, you may become aware that your breathing is actually divided into four parts:

The inhale.

The full pause when your lungs are full of air.

The exhale.

And the pause when your lungs are empty.

But all four parts add up to the air entering and leaving your nostrils.

In and out. In and out.

Do you find that sometimes you "miss" seeing the inhale or the exhale or the pause because your mind has wandered away? Recognize that you were distracted and simply allow your mind to come back to the spot where you can feel the air entering and leaving your nostrils

After you do this for a while, take a quick glance at your mind. Have your thoughts slowed down? Possibly a feeling of serenity has begun to permeate your inner being. Continue paying attention to your breath as long as you wish.

In and out. In and out.

This breath exercise will work for you just about anywhere and anytime. Use it while standing in the check-out line at the grocery store, while stuck in traffic, while waiting at the doctor's office. You can even use it at work. Stop what you are doing and concentrate only on your nostrils. (No one will know what you are doing.) It will relax you in the middle of your workday when you can't leave your desk—when you can't even get away to the bathroom to sit quietly for a few moments, much less go for a walk in the woods.

It works!