Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. Enlarge Your Mind
     … Once you find that the breath is comfortable, with breath sensations that feel really good and satisfying in one part of the body, start thinking of that sense of comfort streaming throughout the rest of your body. See where it can go. Just tell yourself open up all the channels, wherever that refreshing sensation can go. Then maintain the whole body as your frame … 
  3. Audacious & Undaunted
     … Like the breath: Breathe in ways that give rise to pleasure, give rise to rapture. Breathe in ways that you can be aware of the whole body as you breathe in, breathe out, and spread that sense of pleasure and rapture throughout the whole body. Then you can calm the effect of that pleasure and rapture. You can even calm the breath until it … 
  4. Analyzing Results
     … So if you focus simply on doing what you’ve got to do, without being worried too much about how the results are going, have some confidence that simply staying with the breath, resisting the temptation to go wandering off, will eventually bring the mind to peace. It may not seem peaceful in the beginning, but if you stick with it long enough, your … 
  5. But Not Sick in Mind
     … When you’re watching the breath, you’re not just counting how many more hours, how many more minutes before the session is over. You’re thinking: “How can I really see this breath, how can I really see this breath, and how can I figure out what there is to see there?” There’s a sense of ease or dis-ease in the … 
  6. The Open Committee
     … If you allow it to seep through the body, let the breath work through the body, around all the knots of tension, it feels really good to be right here. At the same time, you’ve got a place where you can observe things as they come, watch them as they go. You come to realize that there really is a committee in here … 
  7. Choosing Sides
     … Do you want to stay with the breath? Or do you want to take this time to wander around in the world of your mind and pick flowers and gaze at the sky with no concern for where you’re going? Or do you want to put it to work to develop good, strong powers of concentration and good, strong powers of mindfulness? Mindfulness … 
  8. Goodwill in Heart & Mind
     … The mind can settle down, be with the breath in the present moment, and simply breathing in and breathing out is a refreshing experience, an energizing experience, a calming experience: whatever the mind needs at that time. When you’ve got your own true happiness covered, then it’s a lot easier to have a warm feeling for other people. You feel sorry for … 
  9. Cosmic Scale, Human Scale
     … So every time you meditate, it’s good to think two or three thoughts of infinity before you try to settle down with the breath. Spread goodwill for all beings without limit and think about the long passage of time you’ve been through—and the potential for a long passage of time on into the future. To face it, you’ve got to … 
  10. A Full Range of Archery Skills
     … You can work with the breath, you can work with the elements in the body, whatever the mind finds intriguing and enjoyable here in the present moment. But at the same time, you have to gain some insight into your different hindrances, the different distractions that come up. Sometimes you can give them a quick karate chop and they’re gone. Other times, when … 
  11. Leaving Meditation
     … Notice what the first thing is that you focus on when you leave the breath, when you open your eyes, when you start thinking about other things that have to be done. Notice how the mind moves to those things, and try to notice what’s the first thing that really knocks it off balance. See how long you can maintain your sense of … 
  12. Dwelling in Emptiness
     … If your mind is not ready to settle down with the breath, what things do you have to think about first to get it in the proper mood where it’s willing to settle down? These are all parts of exploring stress, learning about that first noble truth. So even when the mind is not settling down, treat that inability to settle down with … 
  13. Going Out of Your Way
     … After all, the mind’s relationship to the breath energy in the body is going to be very different from person to person, and even for one person, things can change over time. So use a little imagination. Think about what kind of breathing would be really good now. Think of that as a gift to yourself. And here again, you can get the … 
  14. The Cost of Happiness
     … You’re with the breath for a couple breaths and then all of a sudden you find yourself someplace else. You have no idea how you got there. These periods of blanking out: That’s when the mind is insensitive. It’s not seeing what’s going on. One of the most important aspects of the meditation is to make those periods of blanking … 
  15. A Cure for the Sluggish Mind
     … So keep giving rise to that intention, and it’s in this way you can give yourself more energy to get back to the breath. Remind yourself you can breathe in ways that give rise to rapture. It’s all too easy to think sluggish thoughts when the body is feeling dry, the mind is feeling dry—so lubricate it. That was Ajaan Fuang … 
  16. A Passion for the Path
     … So if you’re sitting here dallying around with the breath a little bit, then wandering off to entertain yourself with something else and then coming back, the path isn’t going to have its effect. You have to prove to yourself, on the one hand, that this is the best thing the mind can create. It’s the best state of becoming you … 
  17. Working Ourselves Free
     … So you get the breath comfortable. Breathing in it feels good; breathing out it feels good. Then work on the subtler breath sensations in the body, patterns of tension, say, in the chest, in the shoulders, the back, the legs, the hips, because that’s a form of breath energy as well. Think of everything relaxing all the way out to the pores. Every … 
  18. Other People
     … This is why, when the breath gets comfortable, you try to be aware of your whole body. Think of everything from the top of the head down to the toes and everything in-between. Try to be aware of that all at once. If you’re really fully aware of the body, it’s hard to be aware of anything else at the same … 
  19. Meditation Prep
     … To get an idea of what these attitudes are that you need to bring to the meditation, it’s good to look at what the Buddha taught his son, Rahula, prior to teaching him how to focus on the breath. There are two main sets of instructions. In the first set, the Buddha started his meditation instructions not by telling Rahula to sit and … 
  20. Desert Island Meditation
     … As the Buddha said, you’re supposed to “Make yourself an island.” And what are you going to have on this desert island? What companionship? What treasures? As thoughts come up while you’re trying to stay with the breath, you have to ask yourself, “Is this a desert island thought or is it just a garbage thought?—a thought that I could entertain … 
  21. Progress & Regress
     … So remember, it’s not just a question of technique—what you do with the breath, where you focus on this, that, and the other thing—it’s also a question of your attitude toward the technique, your attitude toward success and failure, mistakes and the good times and the bad times. Remember that there’s nobody who’s hopeless. Even in the case … 
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