This is one of the first meditation out of 112 meditations proposed in this book. The feature of the meditation techniques listed in the book is that it covers every type of mind tendency. The first 9 techniques are related to breathing.
The first technique:
When the breath comes in, feel the nostril. The breath completes inside and when its about to leave the nose, again observe it or feel it.
Before the breath enters observe the nostrils and before the incoming breath becomes the outgoing breath, observe the nostrils. There is a gap between incoming and outgoing where the breath stops for a second.
Your task is to develop the knack for meditation. Be keen on finding the gap between incoming and outgoing breath at the start of entrance(nostril). Don’t systematize your breathing cycle. If you tend to control the breathing pattern, first focus on finding the gap and slowly the pattern will become regular as you continue to practice.
This is a form of being alert to yourself. Slowly convert it in to awareness, be observant of the gap while you are doing any task.
The mind chatter may continue on the background. Don’t get identified with it. See your identification to get unidentified, all the while maintaining the breathing-gap observation. If it is something very difficult to control(the chattering), write your thoughts and understand them. Don’t repress, else it will explode like a volcano. Seek to understand your mind as you do meditation.
Tantra is all about indulgence but with awareness.
Yoga is about suppression with awareness.
We live either in suppression mode(bottling up of emotions) or in indulgence mode(addiction) without being aware. Seek the awareness in whatever you do. Start with alertness to your breathing-gap.
Do this for 3 days. I will be doing this for 3 days as well and if this technique fits you, if you are more relaxed and light when you do this meditation then skip the rest of the meditation and follow this meditation technique for 3 months. I will be trying out every meditation because there can be more than one meditation technique for me. As you master one technique, the rest of the techniques can be easy to follow too. Use both wings that you have to fly.