Are you interested in starting a new meditation practice to improve your physical and mental health? Anapanasati meditation is a unique and effective approach to meditation that originated in India. Read on as in this article we enlist the top benefits of anapanasati meditation, so let’s scroll down and have a look.

 

What Is Anapanasati Meditation?

Anapanasati meditation is a form of meditation that focuses on the breath. The word means “mindfulness of breathing,” and it’s one of the most popular forms of meditation today.

In Anapanasati meditation, you focus on your breath for a few minutes, then relax and enjoy the rest of your day. It’s an easy way to get started with meditation that can be done anywhere at any time — even when you’re busy or don’t feel like it.

Mindfulness meditation involves concentrating your attention on your breathing to help you relax and calm down. The practice of anapanasati, however, involves more than just focusing on the breath. Anapanasati meditation can be done anywhere, even when you’re not meditating!

The practice of anapanasati comes from the Buddha’s teachings about focusing on anything during meditation. This includes focusing on your breathing or any other object that comes into your mind’s eye. 

 

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Top Benefits Of Anapanasati Meditation

Here are the benefits of anapanasati meditation:

1. Improved Mental Wellbeing

Anapanasati meditation is a powerful tool for improving your mental wellbeing, and this is one of the top benefits of anapanasati meditation. The practice of mindfulness meditation has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, depression and even add years to your life. The benefits include improved concentration and focus, better memory, reduced blood pressure and cholesterol levels, reduced inflammation, increased compassion and love for all beings, more joy in life and improved sleep quality.

2. Improved Emotional Wellbeing

Meditation has been shown to improve feelings of compassion for all beings, which can lead to more happiness in your life. This could include emotions like anxiety, anger or sadness – it doesn’t matter what they are! Meditation is an excellent way to deal with these emotions and a great way to cultivate positive emotions such as joy.

3. Improved Physical Wellbeing

Anapanasati meditation is most commonly associated with the mental benefits of meditation. However, it also has physical benefits such as improved circulation, better sleep, and a stronger immune system. Because it’s a conscious form of meditation that requires you to focus on your breath and your body, there are fewer distractions which means you should find it easier to concentrate on any particular task.

4. Better Sleep Quality and Quantity

Meditation improves your physical health by increasing circulation in the body and reducing stress on the circulatory system (fluids moving through the body). It also helps you sleep better at night which enables you to get rid of toxins from your body during the day!

5. Fulfills the Desire for Nibbana

The desire for nibbana is not only to be eliminated but also fulfilled. When one gets rid of his self-clinging, he also gets rid of his craving for things and people. This happens when he gets rid of all kinds of worries and fears. As anapanasati brings about a state where no more arising or passing away, there will be no more stress or worry about anything in life.

6. Eliminates All Sorrows, Fears, and Anxieties

In Buddhism, there are two types of sorrows: physical and mental. Physical sufferings are caused by illness and injury, and mental sorrows are caused by suffering in our minds. When we meditate on anapanasati, we can reduce all the mental sufferings and increase our mental joys because we will be in a state where the mind is calm and collected.

7. Makes One Calm and Collected

One of the major benefits of Anapanasati meditation is that it makes one calm and collected. The mind becomes clear and focused, which leads to a peaceful state of mind. When your mind is peaceful, you will feel at ease with yourself and others around you. This feeling is known as peace or happiness. When you are happy, it shows in your face and body language and others around you can tell that something positive has happened.

8. Deepens Meditation Practice

The benefits of Anapanasati meditation are not just psychological; it also deepens your meditation practice because it allows you to observe your body and feelings in detail. As you continue practicing this technique, you will improve at observing the present moment and being present for yourself throughout the day.

9. Increases Concentration Power

One of the important benefits of Anapanasati meditation is that it helps you develop your concentration power. This is because you can stay focused on a single object for longer. You can also concentrate on a single thought without becoming distracted by other thoughts. This will help you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings and how they affect your life.

10. Helps Develop Spiritual Awareness

The last benefit of Anapanasati meditation is that it helps develop spiritual awareness through its direct experience with the divine Self (Atman). This practice also helps one realize their true nature as Brahman / Atman / Purusha according to Hinduism teachings. It helps you connect with your inner self, a state of being you are already in, but it’s not seated in your consciousness yet.

11. Reduces Stress Level in Mind & Body

Meditation has been proven to reduce stress levels in the mind and body. It helps one relax, clear their mind off all the clutter and tension accumulated over time, and release stress. There are many benefits of meditation on health and wellbeing, but one of the major benefits is that it reduces stress.

 

 

How To Do Anapanasati Meditation?

Sit comfortably with your spine straight and shoulders relaxed. Close your eyes if they are already open. Take a few deep breaths through your nose and feel each breath filling your lungs fully with air (breath in) before slowly letting out all air through pursed lips (breath out). This can be done either inhaling or exhaling, depending on what feels more comfortable for you. Keep repeating this until you feel fully relaxed, then return to your sitting position with your eyes still closed, but keep practising Anapanasati!

 

Anapanasati Meditation 16 Steps

The 16 steps of breath meditation:

Step 1. One discerns, “I’m breathing in long;” or breathing out long, one discerns, “I’m breathing out long.”

Step 2. Or breathing in short, one discerns, “I’m breathing in short;” or breathing out short, one discerns, “I’m breathing out short.”

Step 3. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out sensitive to the entire body.”

Step 4. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out calming bodily fabrication” [the in-and-out breath].

Step 5. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out sensitive to refreshment.”

Step 6. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out sensitive to ease.”

Step 7. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out, sensitive to mental fabrication.”

Step 8. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out calming mental fabrication.”

Step 9. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out sensitive to the mind.”

Step 10. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out, gladdening the mind.”

Step 11. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out, steadying the mind.”

Step 12. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out, releasing the mind.”

Step 13. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out focusing on inconstancy.”

Step 14. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out, focusing on dispassion.”

Step 15. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out, focusing on cessation.”

Step 16. One trains oneself, “I’ll breathe in and out, focusing on relinquishment.”

Lord Buddha called Anapana meditation the most successful meditation for serenity, because it lead you to insight, spiritual and mental power by observing the natural process of breath. Do you have anything to add to the list of benefits of anapanasati meditation, share with us via the below comment section.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1: How Do You Do Anapana Meditation?

Anapana is the first step in the inner sadhana of yoga. It is called so because it is like a finger pointing at the moon. It leads to deep meditation and helps us to experience our true nature. If we do not cultivate this technique, it will be very difficult for us to achieve peace and happiness in our lives.

Question 2: What Is the Difference Between Anapana and Vipassana?

While both forms of meditation focus on clearing away mental impurities, they have different approaches. Vipassana meditation is more of an analytical process that involves paying attention to what arises in your mind during meditation. It is also known as insight meditation because practitioners gain an understanding of their emotions and thoughts through self-observation.