Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. All Eye
     … We want to be in a position where we feel surrounded by our object, as when you’re with the breath. We talk about watching the breath, and it gives the impression that you have an eye in the mind that’s looking at something outside of the eye—its focal point is outside. Try to imagine instead that the eye is being focused … 
  3. Be Heedful & Think
     … I couldn’t figure out why until I realized that the very moment when I decided that I was going to focus on the breath, I would tense up the little tiny muscles in the blood vessels. Once that tension got in place, it was hard to get it out. But once I saw myself in the act of doing it, I could undo … 
  4. Appreciating Goodness
     … Spread thoughts of goodwill to yourself, thoughts of goodwill to all the beings around you, and then get back to the breath. Watch the breath coming in; watch the breath going out. We do this because the mind needs to be trained. Try to find a breath that feels comfortable so that the mind will be happy to stay here, because you want to … 
  5. Adbusting the Mind
     … In this case, you keep in mind the fact that you want to stay with the breath, and you keep in mind all the other lessons you’ve learned about staying with the breath, either through what you’ve heard or read, or what you’ve observed on your own as you’ve meditated before. Think of those lessons as being at your fingertips … 
  6. Impatience
     … All you’re asked is to stay with the breath and to notice when the mind has wandered off from the breath, and if you can, bring it back. It’s a lot easier watching this than it is trying to keep track of personal relationships, keeping track of all the other things that go on out there in the outside world. It’s … 
  7. The Flowing Mind
     … You sit here, focused on the breath, and you can breathe in ways that are comfortable, energizing when you’re feeling tired, soothing when you’re feeling frazzled, relaxing when you’re feeling tense. There’s a lot you can do with the breath energy in the body, both with the in-and-out breath and with the general sense of breath flowing through … 
  8. When Nothing’s Happening
     … So start with the breath. Is the breath as totally comfortable as it could be? Is it a comfortable breath filling the whole body, every little square centimeter? Look at the areas where you don’t normally look: spaces between the toes, spaces between the fingers, around your eyes. See if you can maximize the amount of refreshment, pleasure, stillness, you can get out … 
  9. A Sense of Yourself
     … Ajaan Lee’s teachings on the breath are a really good example of this. He had a lot of illnesses in his life and he learned how to use his breath as a way of overcoming the pain, overcoming the weakness. As a result, he became a real master in that topic of meditation. Something that’s free: The breath comes in, goes out … 
  10. The Inner Saboteur
     … Even before sorting it out, say, “Let’s really give it a try here.” For the time being, get all those voices that usually say, “No, no, no,” to say “Yes” to the breath and “Yes” to the exploration of the breath. It’s only in this way that we’re going to find something we never found before and see something we’ve … 
  11. Look after Yourself Happily
     … It’s going to be the side-effect of the breath, the side-effect of your staying with the breath. Look after the causes, and the effects will take care of themselves. But don’t be afraid to maintain the causes simply for the sake of getting the mind a place to rest, a place to gather its strength, to heal its wounds, because … 
  12. Empathetic Joy
     … All of this helps make for an easy break with all the issues of the day so that you can focus on the work at hand, which is your awareness right here, keeping your awareness focused on the breath. If you can’t be generous in practicing the brahmaviharas, it’s really hard to settle down. There’s a passage where the Buddha actually … 
  13. What’s Worth Doing?
     … As the breath gets more and more subtle, you still have to stay with the sense of the body. Remember that your awareness of the body, even though it may seem still, is a kind of energy. Your awareness of the solidity and the warmth and the coolness of the body all get filtered through your sense of the breath energy. This is why … 
  14. A Safe Space Inside
     … I have to work on something really important here in getting the mind as solid as possible.” Work with the breath. Think of the breath filling the whole body, with no gaps in the breath. The out-breath turns into the in-breath; the in-breath turns into the out-breath. It’s a continuous process with no gaps. Even when there’s stillness … 
  15. Intelligent about Change
     … We were talking today about the strength of the breath. Well, what makes the breath strong is your focus. The focus strengthens the breath, and then as the breath gets more consistently comfortable, you find that it gets easier to stay focused. The two qualities help each other along—strength of focus and strength of body—but the preliminary strength comes from your concentration … 
  16. In Context
     … We’re here practicing concentration, trying to get the mind to settle down, stay with one object, the breath. That requires thinking, it requires an intention, it requires a sense that you’re going to benefit from this—and also, a sense that you’re competent to do this. After all, concentration is something you do. The whole path is something you do. But … 
  17. Selves with Skills
     … This will require that you use certain perceptions, certain images of how the breath flows in the body. Which images are most useful? Try to think of your experience of the body right now as totally breath. If there’s any sense of blockage, remind yourself that the breath was there first and it can still flow—so it doesn’t have to tense … 
  18. Potentials for Awakening
     … Think of the energy doing the breathing. You don’t have to do it. The energy breathes itself. Here again we often have the sense that some muscles have to do the work of doing the breathing, and others are freeloaders. The ones that are doing all the work won’t get a chance to have a sense of pleasure or well-being. So … 
  19. Turtle Mind
     … As meditators, we have to get very sensitive to the mind, the breath, how we feel the body from within, so that we can understand what’s going on in the mind. After all, some very subtle things are happening that can lead to major results. If we’re not sensitive, we don’t sense them. But we live in a rough and tumble … 
  20. Relating to Results
     … As when you’re focusing on the breath right here, right now: If you’re focusing in a way that makes the breath constricted, you want to know. And don’t just blame it on the breath, saying that breath meditation is not a good method, or placing the blame in other places. You can change the way you focus, you can change the … 
  21. Identifying Weeds
     … Try to clear a little space in here where your mindfulness can grow, where your alertness can grow with the breath. Make up your mind that any other thought coming into the mind right now is something you don’t want. No matter what the thought is, treat it as a weed, something you don’t want to go near. Then, as you get … 
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