Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. Settling In
     … That’s part of the path, as you deal with directed thought and evaluation, getting the breath comfortable, getting the body comfortable, settling in. But then you can let go of that and just be with the breath as it is, be with the body as it is. You get more and more used to being here—and what it means to be here … 
  3. Equanimity as a Factor of Awakening
     … The image here actually starts with the breathing meditation. Ajaan Lee has an image of having the mind like a post set at the edge of the sea. The tide rises, the tide falls; the waves come in, the waves go out—but the post doesn’t rise or fall, doesn’t go in or out along with them. It stays right there in … 
  4. Ask the Right Questions
     … Learn how to read the mind for when it’s getting ready to leave the breath, so you know when to comfort it, when to be stern with it, when to use the breath, when to use other reflections to keep the mind solidly in the present moment so that its concentration develops and has a chance to grow, deepen, become more solid. When … 
  5. The Limits of Interconnectedness
     … our own sensation of the breath, our own experience of what’s going on in the mind. This is because eventually we want to deal with the problem that lies in this part of our awareness, which is our pain, our suffering. Nobody else can feel our suffering. No matter how much politicians may claim that they can feel our suffering, they don’t … 
  6. Metacognition
     … Even though you’re trying to get past thinking, you need some thinking to adjust the breath and the mind so that the mind can settle down comfortably. It has to have a sense of enjoyment in its concentration object if it’s going to be happy to stay. That’s why we’re working with the breath. How can you enjoy your breath … 
  7. Sensitive to Fabrication
     … We anchor it in the present moment with the breath and make up our minds that we’re going to breathe in such a way that we minimize bodily fabrication and minimize mental fabrication, to calm the bodily fabrication, calm the mental fabrication— in other words, too calm the breath, calm our perceptions. Then we’ll be able to pick up subtle things that … 
  8. Friends with Pain
     … Then you settle down with the breath. This is where you want to explore how the breath has an effect on the body. If you notice that your energy level is down, how do you breathe in a way that brings it back up? If the energy level is too frenetic, what do you do to calm it down? The rhythm of your breathing … 
  9. The Patience of a Hunter
     … Try to make the breath comfortable. Try to see what way of breathing feels good right now, just right for the body, just right for the mind. “Just right for the body” means that you’re not adding any unnecessary tension. And if the body feels tired, you breathe in a way that’s energizing. If it feels tense, you breathe in a way … 
  10. The Easy Way Out
     … We can’t take a shortcut to the last breath of the hour without going through all the breaths in-between. If you try to find some other way, you’re just creating more and more difficulties for yourself. And yet this is what the mind likes to do: It finds other things to think about, other places to go—anything but staying right … 
  11. The Graduated Discourse
     … The pleasure that comes from focusing on the breath, the rapture that can come from focusing on the breath: This is safety, this is peace. When you have that sense of peace and well-being, you’re ready to continue with this theme of heedfulness, because even the concentration can’t guarantee anything unless you combine it with the rest of the path. You … 
  12. Judgmental vs. Judicious
     … You think of the breath as part of the energy element of the body, and it’s flowing through all the nerves, all the blood vessels. So you think of that sense of ease flowing through the nerves, the blood vessels. Down the spine, out the legs. Down the shoulders, out the arms. From the middle of the chest down through the intestines. Think … 
  13. A Victory that Matters
     … You try to develop a state of good solid concentration in the mind with a sense of ease and wellbeing that can come simply from being with the breath, being absorbed in the breath, filling the breath energy throughout the body with a sense of healthy energy. This puts you in a good position to compare things. You can look at the other pleasures … 
  14. Stepping Out of Truth Games
     … All that matters is your ability to stay with the breath. Any thinking that’s related to the world outside, you want to put that aside. And any ways of thinking coming from the world outside: Put those aside as well. We carry lots of assumptions into the meditation about who we are, where we are, what we’re doing here, and why we … 
  15. In the Elephant’s Footprint
     … You’ve got the feeling of pleasure that comes from focusing on the breath. You’ve got the perception of the breath that helps you hold it in mind. It helps to use the perception of the breath as a whole-body process. That allows the sense of ease and well-being to spread through the body. It’s a useful perception. Directed thought … 
  16. The Joy of Renunciation
     … The mind has this habit of using the breath to aggravate a particular defilement. Learn how to use the breath instead for the sake of the Dhamma. Breathe calmly around thoughts of renunciation, the freedom that comes with renunciation, the joy of restraint. Have positive breath associations, positive perceptions, positive ways of talking to yourself. This way, you can find the pleasure that’s … 
  17. Dhamma Opportunism
     … Many Thai ajaans are told by their lay students, “I don’t have the time to practice,” and the ajaans’ response is always the same: “Do you have time to breathe?” Well, yes. “Okay, you can practice with the breath.” You may not be able to give your full attention to the breath, but it is possible, as you go through your activities, to … 
  18. A Becoming Critic
     … You’re identifying with your intention to get the mind to settle down, to stay with the breath. And then you’ve got the body here as your world of experience. As for the world outside, that’s relevant only to the extent that it’s either conducive to the meditation or not. An airplane goes by and makes a lot of noise. In … 
  19. To Excel
     … You find that as you meditate, you’re here watching the breath, and no one else is trying to push you out of the way to watch your breath. There’s no competition from outside. The breath is fully yours. You’re inhabiting the part of your awareness that only you can know: the body and the mind as they’re felt from within … 
  20. No Happiness Other than Peace
     … This requires an enlarged state of mind, so once the breath starts feeling comfortable, start thinking of spreading your awareness around the body and allowing that sense of comfortable breath to spread through the body as well. The broader your awareness, the more stable it is. If you’re just precariously balanced on one little spot, it’s all too easy to get tipped … 
  21. Don’t Clap Hands with Pain
     … This is why we work with the breath to get the mind to settle down, so that the mind can have a state of concentration with a sense of well-being inside. That’s where you can hold on, at least for now. You’ve got a spot where you can stand so that you can look at these things. Otherwise, it’s like … 
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