SLOKA OF THE DAY:

Bhagavad Gita As It Is -
Chapter 15 Text 14
aham vaisvanaro bhutva
praninam deham asritah
pranapana-samayuktah
pacamy annam catur-vidham

aham--I; vaisvanarah--My plenary portion as the digesting fire; bhutva--becoming; praninam--of all living entities; deham--in the bodies; asritah--situated; prana--the outgoing air; apana--the down-going air; samayuktah--keeping in balance; pacami--I digest; annam--foodstuff; catuh-vidham--the four kinds.

TRANSLATION

I am the fire of digestion in the bodies of all living entities, and I join with the air of life, outgoing and incoming, to digest the four kinds of foodstuff.

JOURNAL:

Srila Prabhupada explains in his purport; There are four kinds of foodstuff--some are swallowed, some are chewed, some are licked up, and some are sucked--and He is the digestive force for all of them.

I have also found that watching my breath while saying my japa is helpful in concentrating on the holy names. I breathing in at a moderate speed and say one mantra as carefully as possible with my outgoing breath. I do not do this always but there are occasions when I am so distracted that it helps to say the first round in this manner.