Search results for: "Feeling"

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  2. At Home with the Breath
     … The extent to which you can feel compassion for people who are suffering and empathetic joy for people who are happy or creating the causes for happiness: Those are good feelings to engender inside. It feels good to think these things. Thoughts of equanimity, when you realize there are certain things that are beyond your control and you accept that so you can focus … 
  3. Feelings Not of the Flesh
    Feelings Not of the Flesh August 23, 2012 When the Buddha talks about focusing on feelings as a frame of reference, he talks about two main kinds: what he calls feelings of the flesh and feelings not of the flesh. The distinction doesn’t have to do with the difference between physical and mental feelings. Feelings of the flesh can be physical or mental … 
  4. Breath Meditation: The Second Tetrad
     … As you can maintain this, you begin to realize that these feelings begin to have an impact on the mind: the feeling of ease, the feeling of fullness. You want to take note of that fact. This is what the Buddha calls citta-sankhara: mental fabrication. These feelings have a direct impact on shaping the mind. Other things also are coming into play here … 
  5. In Touch with Your Fabrications
    Modern psychology tells us that we’re suffering because we’re not in touch with our feelings. The Dhamma tells us that we’re suffering because we’re not in touch with how we create feelings. “Feelings,” here, of course, are emotions. They’re a kind of saṅkhāra, or fabrication, and there are basically three: bodily, verbal, and mental. Bodily is how you breathe … 
  6. Respect for the Breath
     … Notice how it feels as you breathe in, how it feels as you breathe out. The next question is: Is it comfortable? Does it feel good when you breathe in? Or does it feel tense? Do you tend to pull things in too much or push things out too forcefully? Just pose that question the mind and ask yourself what kind of breathing would … 
  7. A Position of Strength
     … You have the potential for breath feelings all over the body, solid feelings, liquid feelings, warm feelings, all over the body. And you can make them comfortable or make them uncomfortable. So when you look at the present moment, what you’ve got is a lot of raw materials. Sometimes they’re in good shape and sometimes they are not. If they’re not … 
  8. Mindful, Alert, & Ardent
     … While you’re with the breath, the quality of ardency means trying to be really sensitive to how it feels, because you want a way of breathing that feels good. If it doesn’t feel good, you’re not going to stay. So notice what kind of breathing would feel best for the body right now. Just one good breath: How would that feel … 
  9. The Body In & Of Itself
     … Try to sensitize yourself to what feels right right now. What kind of breathing feels good? And try to notice if your body feels out of balance or out of whack. How can you breathe in a way that brings it back into balance? If you’re feeling tired, maybe long in-breaths and short out-breaths will feel right, will give you more … 
  10. Your Main Foundation
     … For example, with mental feelings: The feeling part of the mental feeling is the feeling tone, either pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. But rarely do we have feelings that are simply positive, or negative, or neutral. We have stories that go along with them and color the particular feeling. Those stories come from perception and fabrication in the mind, which gets you more into the … 
  11. In the Mood
     … When you feel depressed, what kind of breathing feels uplifting and energizing? When you feel manic, what kind of breathing feels grounding? When you feel lazy, what kind of breathing energizes you? When you feel tense, what kind of breathing relaxes you? There’s a lot to explore, and in the exploration you get absorbed in the breath without even thinking about forcing yourself … 
  12. Self-Healing
     … Without that energy, you couldn’t feel the body or move it. There would be no in-and-out breath. So notice where you feel it. It might be in places you don’t expect. So watch it for a while. Start with some good long, deep, in-and-out breaths to highlight the feeling of breathing. And if long breathing feels good, keep … 
  13. Meditation as a Skill
     … It feels comfortable. Think of that sense of comfort suffusing throughout the body. That’s the skill. You’re trying to keep in mind a large frame of reference right here: the body as a whole. Breathe in a way it feels energizing if you’re feeling tired, a way that feels calming if you’re wired, and if the mind slips off, just … 
  14. Antidotes for Narcissism
    It’s easy to see why some people think that meditation encourages narcissism, a fascination with your own feelings, a fascination with your own thoughts, your own breath, as if that was all that mattered in the world. And it’s not helped when the meditation is reduced to a certain formula, a certain technique, that again just focuses on what you’re feeling … 
  15. Respect
     … When you breathe in, how does the right side of your body feel? When you breathe out, how does the right side feel? Then look at the left. When you breathe in, how does the left side feel? How does it feel when you breathe out? Compare the two sides. Compare the in and out. This is where the alertness comes in. You want … 
  16. Nourishment from the Breath
     … But if you try to sensitize yourself to how the breath actually feels as it comes in—where you feel it, which parts feel pleasant, which areas of the body feel pleasant as the breath comes in, which parts feel stressed: If you’re sensitive, you can locate the stressed parts and make them feel pleasant by changing the rhythm, changing the range of … 
  17. Changing Your Default Settings
     … One appropriate question there would be, “Okay, if it feels that nice to think about that, can I breathe that way as I focus back in on the breath? Can I maintain that nice feeling in the body, so that I don’t have to associate that pleasant feeling only with that thought. Can I have that pleasant feeling with the breath?” If you … 
  18. Protect Your Inner Center
    You focus on the breath, the feeling of the process of breathing. It’s not just a matter of the air coming in and out of the lungs. It’s an energy flow in the body—and it has a huge impact on how your mind feels, how you feel in the present moment. Take some time to look at it. When you breathe … 
  19. Expanding Your Skill Set
     … See if you can notice what rhythm of breathing feels good right now. You might try experimenting with some good, long, deep in-and-out breaths, and see how that rhythm feels. If it feels good, keep it up. If it doesn’t feel good, you can change. You can experiment with shorter breathing, more shallow, faster, slower, heavier, lighter. See the effect that … 
  20. Wake Up from Addiction
     … Where do you feel the breath right now? Does it feel comfortable? What would make it feel more comfortable? What would make it feel more like something you’d really want to settle down and spend some time with? That’s pretty much it. As I’ve said before, when you’re getting the mind into concentration and developing jhana, the object isn’t … 
  21. Healing Skills
     … Or does it feel harsh? If it feels harsh or labored, allow it to change. Ask yourself, what would feel better: longer breathing or shorter breathing? Deeper or more shallow? Heavier or lighter? Faster or slower? Then see how the body responds. Keep this up until you find a rhythm that feels good. As long as that rhythm feels good, you stick with it … 
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