- In breath counting meditation you count breaths up to a fixed number, usually 9 or 10, start again at one, and return to one whenever you lose count.
- University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers (Levinson and colleagues, 2014) validated counting breaths from 1 to 9 as a behavioural measure of mindfulness in four studies with over 400 participants.
- In those studies, people who counted breaths more accurately reported more mindfulness, less mind wandering and better mood, and long-term meditators counted more accurately than matched non-meditators.
- In a randomised online study by the same team, four weeks of breath-counting training improved mindfulness and reduced mind wandering compared with working-memory training and with no training.
- The timer on this page runs a 10-minute session with an on-screen cue to count out-breaths from 1 to 10.
- Losing count is expected: the practice consists of noticing the slip and starting again at one, without judgement.
What is breath counting meditation?
Breath counting meditation is a practice in which you silently count your breaths up to a fixed number, start again at one, and go back to one whenever you lose count or notice your mind has drifted. The counting gives the mind a small task that makes wandering easy to spot: either you know which number you are on, or you do not.
That is what makes it a good first meditation. Plain attention to the breath asks you to notice the moment you drift, and beginners often miss it for minutes at a time. With counting, the slip shows up on its own: you find yourself at 14, or you realise you have no idea where you were. The count is not a score. It is a tripwire that tells you when to come back.
Breath counting has also been studied in the laboratory, which is unusual for such a simple exercise; the research is described further down this page.
How to do breath counting meditation, step by step
To do breath counting, sit upright, breathe naturally, count each out-breath silently from 1 to 10, then start again at 1, and go back to 1 whenever you lose track.
- Set the timer. Ten minutes is a good first length; five is fine if ten feels long.
- Sit upright on a chair or a cushion, hands resting, eyes closed or gaze lowered to the floor in front of you.
- Take two or three slow breaths, then stop managing the breath. Let it be as long or as short as it is.
- Feel the breath where it is clearest: the cool air at the nostrils, or the belly rising and falling.
- At the end of the first out-breath, silently say “one”. At the end of the next, “two”. Continue to ten.
- After ten, start again at one. Do not carry on to eleven.
- If you lose count, overshoot ten, or realise you have been thinking about something else, simply start again at one.
- When the bell rings, let go of the counting and sit for a few breaths before opening your eyes.
Some people count on the in-breath, or count a full in-and-out breath as one. Any of these works as long as you keep the same rule for the whole session. This page counts out-breaths, because the small pause after breathing out gives the number a natural place.
Should you count breaths to 9 or to 10?
Both are used: the University of Wisconsin research task counts breaths from 1 to 9, while the cue in this page's timer counts out-breaths from 1 to 10, and the exact number matters less than the rule of starting again.
In the lab version described by Levinson and colleagues (2014), participants counted from 1 to 9 again and again. On breaths 1 to 8 they pressed one button and on breath 9 a different one; if they lost count, they pressed a separate button and began again at one. That design let the researchers measure accuracy: a correct cycle ends with the “nine” button exactly on the ninth breath.
At home there are no buttons, and ten is easy to keep track of, so the timer uses 1 to 10. A smaller number keeps cycles short and makes slips easier to catch; a larger one gives more room to drift. You can adjust the variant to the day:
| Variant | Count | Start again when | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research task (Levinson 2014) | 1 to 9, repeatedly | You lose count | Button presses mark each breath, so accuracy can be measured |
| This page's timer | Out-breaths, 1 to 10 | You lose count or go past 10 | Cue on screen, bell at the end |
| Short cycle | 1 to 5 | You lose count | For restless days and the first sessions |
| Countdown | 10 down to 1 | You lose count | Slightly harder; useful when counting up has become automatic |
Does breath counting meditation work? The Wisconsin studies
Breath counting is one of the few meditation exercises tested directly: in a University of Wisconsin–Madison project (Levinson, Stoll, Kindy, Merry and Davidson, Frontiers in Psychology, 2014), counting accuracy tracked mindfulness, and four weeks of practice reduced mind wandering.
The team ran four studies with over 400 participants in total. In one of them the counting lasted 18 minutes after a 6-minute rest. Accuracy turned out to be reliable from one session to the next, matched people's self-reported mindfulness, and was higher in long-term meditators than in matched controls. People who counted more accurately also showed more meta-awareness, meaning they noticed their own state of mind, less mind wandering and better mood.
The last study was a randomised online trial. Participants were assigned to four weeks of breath-counting training, to working-memory training or to no training. Breath counting improved mindfulness and reduced mind wandering compared with both other groups. The working-memory comparison matters: the gain did not come simply from doing some mental exercise every day.
The outcomes in these studies were mindfulness, mind wandering and mood, and the trial compared breath counting with working-memory training and no training, not with other meditation styles. For the broader evidence on meditation, stress and session length, see the meditation timer page.
What to do when you lose count during meditation
When you lose count, notice it, let go of whatever pulled you away, and start again at one: that moment of returning is the exercise itself, not a failure.
In the Wisconsin task, losing count had its own button. It was not an error to hide; it was part of what the task recorded. Treat it the same way at home. Ten restarts in ten minutes means you caught your mind wandering ten times, which is ten repetitions of the skill you are training. Three kinds of slip are worth recognising:
- Drifting: you realise you have been planning dinner and have no idea of the number. Start at one.
- Overshooting: you find yourself at 13 or 17. The counting carried on automatically while attention went elsewhere. Start at one.
- Counting on autopilot: the numbers run smoothly, but you no longer feel the breath. Bring attention back to the sensation and keep counting.
Do not try to recover the lost number or guess where you were. A clean restart at one is the rule, and it keeps the practice honest.
Should you control your breathing while counting?
No: in breath counting you let the breath run by itself and only count it; slowing or deepening it on purpose turns the meditation into a breathing exercise.
Attention tends to make people steer the breath at first, breathing more deliberately than usual. If you notice that, let go of the steering and simply count what happens, long breaths and short ones alike.
Paced breathing, where you follow a set rhythm of in-breath, hold and out-breath, is a separate practice with its own research. If that is what you want, the breathing timer pages, such as box breathing and coherent breathing, are built for it. Here the breath is only the anchor.
Breath counting for beginners: a four-week plan
A sensible plan is one short session a day for four weeks, the length of the training period in the Wisconsin online trial; lengthen the sessions only when the shorter ones feel easy.
| Week | Daily length | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 to 10 min | Learn the rule: count to ten, start again at one. Expect many restarts. |
| 2 | 10 min | Notice which kind of slip happens most often: drifting, overshooting or autopilot. |
| 3 | 10 to 15 min | Count more lightly: the number in the background, the breath in front. |
| 4 | 15 min | Spend the last few minutes without counting, just following the breath. |
This schedule is a suggestion, not the trial's protocol. If a week feels too hard, repeat it. After four weeks, breath counting can stay your daily practice or become a warm-up before a longer, quieter sitting.
Sleepy, restless or bored during breath counting?
Most difficulties in breath counting come from being too drowsy or too wound up, and small changes to posture, eyes and length are the first things to try.
- Sleepiness: sit more upright, open your eyes slightly with the gaze lowered, or practise earlier in the day. Lying down is not the best position for this practice.
- Restlessness: shorten the session, count to five instead of ten, or feel the breath in the belly, where the movement is larger.
- Boredom: count down from ten, or notice the short pause between the out-breath and the next in-breath.
- Racing thoughts: do not try to stop them. Let the counting be the one thing you hold on to; the thoughts can stay in the background.
- Anxiety or discomfort: open your eyes, widen attention to the room, or stop. In a 2020 review of 83 studies (Farias and colleagues), about 8 % of participants reported an unpleasant effect of meditation, most often anxiety; it is not a sign that you are doing it wrong.
Breath counting or another meditation for beginners?
Breath counting is the most structured way to start, because it shows you every lapse of attention; if counting starts to feel mechanical, other beginner practices give attention a different anchor.
| Practice | Anchor | Good when | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breath counting | A number on each out-breath | You want a clear task and quick feedback | This page |
| Plain breath awareness | The sensation of breathing, no numbers | Counting has become easy | Meditation timer |
| Body scan | Sensations, one body area at a time | You feel tense or restless | Body scan meditation |
| Loving-kindness | Silently repeated kind phrases | You want to work with feelings toward yourself and others | Loving-kindness meditation |
| Walking meditation | Steps and the soles of the feet | Sitting still is hard | Zazen and walking meditation |
Many people combine them: a few minutes of counting to settle, then plain attention to the breath for the rest of the session.
Questions people ask
How do you do breath counting meditation?
Sit upright, let the breath run naturally and silently count each out-breath from 1 to 10. After 10, start again at 1, and whenever you lose count or notice your mind has wandered, go back to 1.
Do you count the inhale or the exhale?
Either works if you keep one rule for the whole session. This page counts out-breaths; some people count in-breaths or a full in-and-out breath as one.
Why count to 10, or to 9?
A short cycle makes slips easy to notice. University of Wisconsin researchers used 1 to 9 in their studies; counting to 10 is easy to keep track of at home. The rule of starting again matters more than the number.
What if I keep losing count?
That is normal and part of the practice. Each time you notice and start again at one, you have trained the skill of catching a wandering mind. On restless days, count only to five.
How long should breath counting meditation last?
Ten minutes is a good default and five is fine to start. In one Wisconsin study the counting lasted 18 minutes; the online training ran for four weeks.
Is breath counting good for beginners?
Yes. It gives the mind a concrete task and makes drifting obvious, so beginners see when they have lost focus instead of drifting for minutes without noticing.
Does breath counting reduce mind wandering?
In a randomised online trial at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, four weeks of breath-counting training reduced mind wandering and improved mindfulness compared with working-memory training and with no training.
Should I breathe slowly while counting?
No. Let the breath set its own pace and only count it. Deliberately paced breathing is a separate practice; the breathing timer pages cover it.
Can I do breath counting lying down?
You can, but you are more likely to fall asleep. Sitting upright with the eyes closed or the gaze lowered keeps you more alert for this practice.
- Levinson D. B., Stoll E. L., Kindy S. D., Merry H. L., Davidson R. J. A mind you can count on: validating breath counting as a behavioral measure of mindfulness. Frontiers in Psychology, 2014, 5, 1202.
- Farias M., Maraldi E., Wallenkampf K. C., Lucchetti G. Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation-based therapies: a systematic review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2020, 142 (5), 374–393.
On this page the timer runs one 10-minute stage with a small bell and a 10-second settling-in countdown; the cue on screen reminds you to count out-breaths from 1 to 10 and to start again at 1 when you lose count.