Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. Your Main Foundation
    Your Main Foundation November 21, 2011 When you focus on the breath, you’ve got all four frames of reference right here. The breath is a manifestation of the body. Then there are feelings. Feelings can either be physical or mental. They come basically down to pleasure, pain, and neither pleasure nor pain. Then you’ve got mind states, such as a mind that … 
  3. Nourishment from the Breath
     … The more sensitive you are to the breath, the more you’ll naturally breathe in a comfortable way. If you put the breath on automatic pilot, it just tends to go in and out, in and out, and it gets pretty mechanical. But if you try to sensitize yourself to how the breath actually feels as it comes in—where you feel it, which … 
  4. Driving Lessons
     … If the mind doesn’t settle down with the breath, is the problem with the breath or is the problem with the mind? If it’s with the breath, try different ways of breathing, different ways of conceiving the breathing. Instead of thinking that you have to pull air in from outside, think of the breath, as I said, as energy originating in the … 
  5. Your Higher Power
    When we meditate on the breath, we’re focusing not only on the in-and-out breath, but also on the flow of breath energies in different parts of the body. You try to get the in-and-out breath comfortable. Ask yourself what kind of rhythm would feel good right now. And experiment for a while until you find something that does feel … 
  6. Developing Discernment
    When you focus on the breath, it’s important that you want to stay here. You’ll find that the committee of the mind has some members who are happy to be here, and other members who are not. This is why the Buddha says there are two duties that you *do *as you get the mind to settle down with right mindfulness and … 
  7. Staying in Position
     … To do that, you focus on the breath. Try to notice where you feel the breathing process. It can be anywhere in the body. Choose a spot where the sensations tell you clearly that now the breath is coming in, now the breath is going out. Allow the breath in that spot to feel comfortable. That’s getting into position. Both sides of the … 
  8. Categorical Truths
     … You try to do this well, which means that, if you’ve wandered off, away from the breath, you try to come back as quickly as possible; when you’re with the breath, you try to be really, really sensitive to how the breathing feels. Again, think of the breath as a whole-body process. There will be different parts of the body that … 
  9. Exercising the Mind
     … But when you find that you can stay with the breath more and more consistently, the mind can begin to relax with the breath. It can melt in to the breath. In other words, your awareness begins to seep throughout the whole body, just as your sensation of the breath seeps through the whole body, and you feel more and more at home. You … 
  10. Focal Points
    When you focus on the breath, it’s important that the breath feel very refreshing: that it feels really good to breathe in and then breathe in again, breathe in again, that there’s a part of the body that feels really gratified, really nourished by the breath. Part of this involves choosing your spot to focus on, what Ajaan Lee calls the resting … 
  11. Your Inner Teacher
     … What you’re supposed to be doing right now is staying with the breath. Try to notice in which part of the body the breath is most obvious—in other words, the sensations that tell you that now the breath is coming in, now the breath is going out. If you have these sensations in lots of different parts of the body, try to … 
  12. A Safe Home
     … So as we’re working with the breath, these are the qualities we’re trying to develop. Keep the breath in mind—that’s mindfulness—and then watch the breath, be sensitive to the breath, to how it feels in the different parts of the body: That’s alertness. Once you’ve got a sense of these two qualities going with the breath, then … 
  13. Cutting Through the Hype
     … The first place you want to encounter that balance is right here with the breath. Notice which thoughts keep you with the breath, which thoughts pull you away. For the time being, side with the thoughts that keep you with the breath. You want to make it more pleasant to be here. Try to keep the breath comfortable. Don’t force it too much … 
  14. Balance & Release
    Balance & Release January 27, 2011 When we focus the mind on the breath, we can observe both of them. Ideally, it’s good to be able to observe both of them together. Although some people find it easier to observe the breath, others find it easier to observe the mind. But it’s important to be able to watch them as they interact. First … 
  15. Big Desire, Detailed Focus
     … And remember that it is okay to play with the breath. I don’t know how many people have come here who’ve been told that you’re just supposed to let the breath do its own thing—you don’t do anything at all, just accept the breath as it is. Well, the breath as it is, is—as the Buddha calls it … 
  16. Guided Meditation
     … You think about the breath. The way you keep the breath in mind, that’s mindfulness. Then you’re alert to how the breath is going, knowing when it comes in, knowing when it goes out, sticking with it all away as it comes in, sticking with it all the way as it goes out, making sure you stay with it as consistently as … 
  17. Chopping Off Thoughts
     … What it means while you’re with the breath is that you try to be as sensitive as possible to the breathing so that you can get a more and more refined sense of pleasure, a more expansive sense of fullness of the body. The more intent you are on observing the breath, then the better the results, the more refined results, the more … 
  18. Many I’s, Many Eyes
    Focus your attention on the breath. Take a couple good long deep in-and-out breaths and see how it feels. Notice how the breath is flowing and see where you find the sensation of breathing easiest to follow. We’re not focusing just on the movement of the air in and out of the nose. We’re also focusing on the sensation of … 
  19. A Recipe for Jhana
     … It’s the same way with focusing on the breath: Think of everything you feel in the body as being related to breathing, part of the breath energy. That’s the breath energy coming in and going out. There’s also the breath energy that’s just there in the body, regardless of whether the breath is coming in or going out or being … 
  20. Everything Comes Together Right Here
     … just the breath, just your mind talking to itself about the breath. There will also be a perception you hold in mind, an image you hold in mind about the breath, and then the feeling. How does the breath feel right now? Does it feel comfortable? The Buddha talks about perception and feeling as being mental fabrications because of the impact they have on … 
  21. Blessings
     … If you do find yourself wandering away from the breath, just drop whatever that thought is. You don’t have to finish the thought, just leave it dangling. Come back to how the breathing feels right here, right now. When you can stay with the breath, try to be extra sensitive to what feels especially good as you breathe in, as you breathe out … 
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