I was given three exercises for my upper arm pain. The doctor told me that the pain came from my rotator cuff, even though it felt like it came from a place near the end of my upper arm bone. The three exercises are to be performed four times a day. That is enough repetition that I develop some feelings about subtle parts and differences in what can seem like the same thing over and over.
The process reminds me of trying to concentrate on my breath. If my eyes are tired and I try conscious deliberate breathing with my eyes closed, it seems like there is nothing to sense, to attend to, in the breath. Then, factors and variables begin to emerge. Speed, depth, amount of pause between inhale and exhale, between this breath and the next. Relations of inhale to exhale: pause between, same speed for each, rapid for one and slow for the other.
Counting can be a big help. A friend said he took deliberate, conscious breaths while meditating and he can keep his attention directly on the breaths up to a count of 13. Somewhere after that, he often finds he is performing the sort of breaths he wants but his attention has slipped off to La-La land or sports or whatever.
With the breath, a pause can be introduced between breaths and/or between inhale and exhale. I don't think I have mentioned Chade-Meng Tan lately but his books Search Inside Yourself and Joy on Demand are inexpensive, pleasant guides to self-knowledge and acceptance. He asks "How long should a person meditate ?" and answers "One conscious deliberate breath". One breath! With consciousness and attention, a breath can have its own personality and not be just another dull experience.
