What additional benefit does breathing meditation have over other daily activities where you can focus on an object (e.g. learning, dancing)?

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The main benefit is that oxygen, that which you get from breathing, is literally life. You will die quicker from oxygen deprivation than from virtually anything else shy of invasive brain damage. Focusing on breath as an object, along with practicing proper deep breathing, takes the very fundamental process of life, respiration, which happens literally everywhere in the body, every single cell conducts cellular respiration to produce energy, and turns it up to 11.

You must understand just how rare deep breathing truly is in modern society and what it does for you when you are able to do it regularly. How often are you ever told to take deep breaths? Only when you are visibly stressed, to the point where someone else can see and tell you to breathe. When it’s obvious that your brain is outrunning your body’s capacity to give it oxygen to support it’s activities. You know, all that thinking stuff that lets you solve the very sorts of problems that are stressing you out.

Breathing meditation is simple, foundational, and amazingly effective at producing changes. Three fully deep breaths can completely change your mood. Spending 20 minutes focusing on nothing more than deep breathing can be literally life changing. Spending 6 months building a meditation practice out of regular 20 minute deep breathing sessions removes all randomness from that equation, it WILL be life changing.

Because regular deep breathing removes all physical barriers to spiritual growth. It primes your muscles and mind for more intensive physical activity. It supercharges your mind by increasing the ability of every last one of your brain cells to contribute at a greater level because each one can generate more energy because of increased oxygen access.

You literally can’t go wrong with more and deeper breaths. There is no medical condition that is caused by just breathing. It’s not like you can overdose on air. Well, unless you do something truly stupid like blow compressed air into you like a balloon. That’s not breathing, don’t try it.

I like a very simple protocol. A four count breathing in, another four count to hold, four count to breath out, then another four count of holding. Count slower than you’d ordinarily do, it’s not necessarily seconds you’re shooting for here. Maybe count to eight if you can’t make four work comfortably. Just regular, long, breaths, the holding between in and out breaths is useful for promoting trance state.

Do it a lot, and I guarantee you won’t recognize yourself after a few weeks. Tons of energy and motivation to accomplish everything you’ve wanted to accomplish.

Sure you can do other objects but the breath. When I was starting I used candle flame visualization. Feed your worries and fears into the flame. Better yet, on out breath breathe out your fears and worries and negativity. Then breathe in light and goodness from the air and environment.

Because every single meditation you can do can be done better when you harness the power of breathing. All the other techniques are advanced, and advanced in the spiritual space means they’re ultimately less powerful than the foundational, which is why you do the foundational exercises first.

Only when you’ve reached a point of diminishing returns from foundational exercises does it make a ton of sense to start branching out. You don’t do one-armed pull-ups before you can pound out two-armed ones in your sleep. Sitting there trying is only going to make you weaker, not stronger. Master the breath before you go after subtler quarry.