Guided Meditations

My hope is that the four main sections of this guide have given you a bunch of tools to get your own meditation practice going. Still, it can be overwhelming to take that information and put it all together when you’ve never tried to meditate before. If you feel like you’d benefit from a simple template to build on as you go, these two approaches – one built on counting, the other built on scanning the body – would be a great place to start.

But remember: Jhana meditation is an intensely personal thing! So while I hope these two guided meditations will help you begin your journey, you should start playing around with new ideas and approaches as soon as you feel comfortable doing so. The best thing you can do for your practice is to make a commitment that every single session, you’ll try something new: A slightly tweaked posture, a new phrase to repeat, a different part of the body to focus on, whatever. Then take what works and toss out what doesn’t until you have a routine that’s perfect for you. I truly believe that jhana is open and available to every human being who can sit still and breathe, and I wish you the best in your practice – so much joy and happiness is waiting.

Counting your breaths

Set a timer for twenty minutes. Sit comfortably on a chair, bench, or cushion and take a moment to relax until your body feels loose but alert. Don’t slump your shoulders or lean off to one side, but don’t feel the need to tense up until your back is perfectly straight either; as long as you’re stable and not feeling any pain, you should be ready to start. First, take a moment to focus on something pleasant – maybe reflect on a memory that brings you joy, or on the love that you have for your family and friends. After about a minute, slowly return to your breathing at the place where you notice it most clearly and begin to count on the out-breath. Count “One…. two…. three…” and so on until you get to eight, and then count backwards down to one again. Then, repeat the cycle, but this time only counting up to seven and then back down, and then back up to six, and so on.

Once you finish your cycle with “One… two… three… two… one… two… one…,” pause for one breath where you don’t count at all. Then, repeat the process, but this time counting back up to eight on the in-breath instead. Once you’ve gone through another whole cycle – remembering to check in on your posture whenever you notice any shifting or discomfort – start again while counting on the in-breath and out-breath both: “One, one… two, two… three, three…” and so on. This time, when you go up to eight and then start back down, don’t trim one number off each time. Instead, just go back and forth between one and eight, counting on the in-breath and out-breath, until you can do one full cycle without losing focus. If you do find yourself losing track of where you are, just gently reset back to one and start again.

It’s okay if it takes you a while to get to the point where you can go through a whole cycle without your mind drifting off! There’s nothing wrong with spending the entire session counting like this until your concentration and mindfulness deepen naturally over time. Don’t be frustrated or discouraged if it takes dozens of sessions before you can do it consistently; even just counting like this can be a pleasant, relaxing experience you’ll come to enjoy. Remember that meditation should be like good-natured game, where the goal is just seeing how much pleasure, joy, and peace you can feel. Don’t get into a mindset that tells you the only goal is never losing focus, and that you’re failing every time you drift away. Think of it more like mental exercise, where you’re building your “attention muscles” every time you bring your focus back to the breath.

Once you do get through a full cycle from one to eight and back without losing focus, gently drop the counting entirely and spend the rest of your time just following the breath directly. If you find yourself regularly reaching this milestone in your practice, consider extending your session length by five or ten minutes so you have more time to enjoy the peace and calm that comes with this level of mental stillness – but always feel free to return to the counting, even for just a cycle or two, if you start to feel your attention wavering.

Scanning your body

Just like last time, set your time for twenty minutes and sit comfortably until your body is relaxed and your breath is stable. Identify wherever you feel the breath most strongly, and take a moment to focus your attention there. Try to feel as though you’re breathing through that spot, even if it isn’t actually a place where air would be entering. Once you feel like you’ve made the breath as comfortable as possible at that spot, shift slightly left, right, up, or down and repeat the process until you’ve covered the whole body. Some spots might feel great right away, while others will take longer to loosen up.

Trying to plan your “path” across the body can be distracting if you’re making it up as you go along, so I would recommend following the basic template here: Start at one side of your stomach, then the other, then up into the center of your chest. Then, focus on your left and right pectorals, then your left and right shoulders, before moving up through your throat and face before going back down on both sides of your spine. Once you reach your groin, go through each leg before returning to your shoulders and moving down both arms before ending at your hands. Of course, this is just a suggestion – you’re free to mix up the order in any way you’d like! But having a general plan before each session can help keep you focused and free from distractions.

This whole process should take you at least ten minutes, so don’t rush through as you go. Make sure you stay on every part of the body until it truly feels like you’re breathing through it, and consider dividing the sections above into smaller subsections as your attention begins to grow. Losing focus on the breath is less of a risk with this approach, since your engagement with the body is more active. But just like in the guided meditation above, don’t get frustrated when your mind does inevitably wander off. Just return it again, gently, to whatever area you were focused on last and keep going. When you finally do finish scanning the body, spend the rest of your session watching your breath wherever it felt the most pleasant – but try your best to keep a full-body awareness in the background as you do so.