Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. Gather ’Round the Breath
     … your awareness of the breath, your awareness of the mind together with the breath. You want your mindfulness to think about the breath, and to think about the mind, and your alertness to pay attention to both: How are things going with the breath? And to what extent is the mind staying with the breath? In the beginning, you have to go back and … 
  3. The Dhamma Channel
    When you focus on the breath, also pay attention to the perception you have of the breath: the image you have in mind. Think of the body being filled with breath channels and that they all connect—so that when you breathe in, every part of the body gets nourished by good breath energy. If one part of the body has an excess and … 
  4. Standards for Thinking
     … What’s the breath doing right now? What impact does it have on the way you feel your body? And how are you perceiving things right now? Because our perception of the breath, the way we imagine the breath to ourselves, is going to have a huge impact on how we breathe, how we experience the breath in the body and what we can … 
  5. Factions in the Mind
     … This is why it’s important to keep hanging on to the breath and allowing the breath to feel good, to feel clear in the different parts of the body. This is how you exercise mindfulness and alertness so that they grow strong. Wherever you can sense the breath, focus on that. Then let the different breathing sensations connect so that they feel all … 
  6. Dethinking Thinking
     … So it’s not like you’re trying to push the breath through the solid parts. You’re just allowing the breath to come first. Give it priority. And let those other things fall into the background, because, after all, the breath is what allows you to sense these things to begin with. This becomes a useful way of dealing with pain. Pain tends … 
  7. Limitless Thoughts
     … Keep the breath in mind and watch the breath, be sensitive to the breath. The more sensitive you are, the more you’ll see, not only in terms of the breath, but also in terms of the mind. Because alert sensitivity requires being fully present, and also being very open to noticing what’s coming in through your nerve endings. Think of all the … 
  8. Looking for Happiness Inside
     … As you’re working with the breath, you get a stronger and stronger sense of your mind here in the present moment, your awareness here in the present moment, until ultimately the breath gets so refined and the breath energy fills the body so full that the in-and-out breath gets shorter. Don’t try to make it shorter. Think instead of the … 
  9. Learning How to Learn
     … What we’re going to focus on is the breath. The breath isn’t the Buddhist, it isn’t Christian, it doesn’t belong to any particular religion. It’s common property all over the world. So when you focus on the breath, that leads you straight to your mind, your awareness in the present moment. Then, when any questions come out of the … 
  10. Basic Meditation Instructions
     … The big issue is trying to keep the breath comfortable. Keep the mind in position with the breath. The best way to do that is to make the breath interesting. Try playing with the breath. See what long breathing is like for a while. Then try short breathing, deeper breathing, more shallow, heavier, lighter, until you find a rhythm and texture of breath that … 
  11. Do Jhana
     … Sometimes you’re told, “Don’t direct the breath. Just let the breath come in and out on its own.” Well, the breath is not going to come in and out on its own. The intention to breathe is either conscious or subconscious. To understand it, try to make it as conscious as possible. And the best way to do that is to try … 
  12. Two Types of Dukkha
     … Just stay right with the breath, be as steady as you can, as calm as you can, and learn how to relate to the breath in a way that you can be friends. We have lots of cartoon ideas about how we breathe, or how we should know the breath. For instance, when you’re told to be aware of the in-and-out … 
  13. Effective Self-Discipline
    Meditating on the breath is something simple, but it can be hard to do. It’s simple because it’s right here. You don’t have to borrow someone else’s breath. You don’t have to go down and buy it at the store. It’s nothing far away or abstract. It’s simply the sensation of the energy in the body as … 
  14. Solo Practice
     … Is the breath comfortable? If it’s not comfortable, try changing. How do you change? Well, you can try different ways. Sometimes simply thinking about “longer breath”—just a thought, “longer breath”—and the breath will go longer. “Shorter,” the breath will go shorter. “Deeper,” it’ll go deeper. Other times you have to keep thinking, thinking, thinking before the movement of the breath … 
  15. Present Kamma
     … You do that by focusing on the breath. In the beginning, it may not be all that still as you try to focus on the breath. But that’s the important place you want to focus right now. Put your attention on the breath and try to stay with the breath as much as you can. And whatever you need to do to stay … 
  16. Ven. Ananda’s Awakening
     … Simply by holding an image in mind, you’ll see that the breath responds. The mind will begin to settle down with a sense of ease with that perception—whatever the perception is that allows you to stay with the breath and that allows the breath to spread comfortably through the body. So we’re here with the desire for awakening, but we learn … 
  17. Discernment in Concentration
     … You’ve got the breath, which is form. You’ve got the pleasure that comes with being with the breath: That’s feeling. There’s the perception that holds you with the breath, the image of the breath that you have in mind that helps you stay with the breath: That’s perception. You’re thinking about the breath and adjusting the breath, evaluating … 
  18. Focus on the Doing
     … There’s the way the breath is going. There’s the place where you’re focusing. There’s the concept you have of the breath. Sometimes we have weird ideas, cartoon ideas about how the breath comes in, how the breath goes out, and we try to breathe in line with those cartoon ideas, and that goes against the actual way the breath can … 
  19. Customs of the Noble Ones
     … How are you processing the breath right now? As soon as you turn your attention to the breath, the breath is going to change—based on your perception of the breath, your intentions around the breath—which means the breath is a really good mirror for seeing these things in action. We know that one of the principles of causality that the Buddha taught … 
  20. What You’re Responsible For
     … Use the breath to bring the mind into balance. Then take an interest in the breath. The more interested you are in the breath, the more likely you are to stay right here, right now. If the breath is boring, you’re going to find someplace else to go, something else to think about. So ask questions about the breath. This is why the … 
  21. Boring
     … After all, where did the Buddha find awakening? Right here at the breath. And his breath wasn’t any different from ours. What was different was the attitude of interest and attention that he brought to it—because, of course, he wasn’t watching just the breath. He was watching the mind in relationship to the breath, seeing a lot of subtle movements going … 
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