Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. First Principles
    When Ajaan Fuang taught meditation on the elements, he’d start with the breath. He wouldn’t have you go to any of the other elements until you’d really mastered the breath. This is a principle you find throughout the forest tradition. If you want to know the aggregates, focus on one of them. Really get to know it. That knowledge will then … 
  3. Sowing Good Seeds
    Focus your attention on the breath. Ask yourself: Where do you feel the breath in the body? Where do you feel the energy of the breathing? Sometimes it’s at the nose, but sometimes it’s not. It’s more down in the chest and the abdomen. And if the diaphragm expands, it’s not just the diaphragm. Other parts of the body move … 
  4. Mindfulness of Breathing: Four in One
     … Try to keep your mind with the breath. Remember to stay here—that’s what mindfulness is all about, remembering, And then be alert keep watch over all this —the breath, the feeling of pleasure, your mind staying with the breath or not staying with the breath. If it’s not staying with the breath, bring it back. If it comes back easily, that … 
  5. The Uses of the Breath
     … So he used the breath. It’s because of his exploring how to use the breath to pull his health together that we have Method Two. So when you’re feeling tired, the breath is a good place to focus and to think about the different parts of the body that need breath energy that have been starved. And give it to them. The … 
  6. Play with the Breath
    When you focus on the breath, you want to be on good terms with it. Don’t force it too much. Take a couple of good, long, deep in-and-out breaths, and see if it feels good. If a long breathing does feel good, keep it up. If it gets tiresome after a while, you can change. Longer, shorter, faster, slower, deeper, more … 
  7. Don’t Focus on Jhana, Focus on the Breath
     … So just stay here with the breath. Make the breath the only thing you’re thinking about. Put aside all thoughts of jhana, everything. Just be here with the breath. And then try to notice: Is the breath comfortable or not? If it’s not, you can change. One of Ajaan Lee’s most important insights into concentration practice is that this is how … 
  8. Elemental Energy
    When we get in touch with the breath, we’re getting in touch with the spot where the mind and the body meet, which makes it a really good place to focus. You look in one direction, and there are physical events; you look in the other direction, there are mental events. You see how they come through the breath to each other, how … 
  9. Peace on Earth
    Peace on earth has to begin right here, right where the body and the mind meet at the breath. Try to develop a sense of harmony here. As you’re focusing on the breath, don’t push it too much but don’t wander away. Give it your undivided attention and see how it responds. If it responds well, stick with it. If not … 
  10. Observing the Mind at the Breath
    As we focus on the breath—trying to keep it in mind, bringing the mind back every time we realize that it has wandered off, and doing what we can to keep the mind there again—our focus is on the breath, but the mind is getting trained at the same time. When you catch yourself wandering off, that’s alertness. When you remember … 
  11. Oneness
     … There’s the mind aware of the breath, evaluating the breath, commenting on the breath. That’s one thing. And then there’s the breath. One subject, one object, and you want to keep both of them “one” in their own ways. You want to make sure that the one topic of your inner conversation is the breath. As for other things that have … 
  12. A Mirror for the Mind
    A Mirror for the Mind January 21, 2012 There’s a passage in one of Ajaan Lee’s talks where he says that the breath is like a mirror for the mind. This is why we look so intently at the breath, because it’s going to teach us some very important lessons about the mind. In particular, it’ll show us how to … 
  13. Relate Everything to the Breath
    The breath is the basis of the skill we’re trying to develop here—which means that when anything comes up in the course of the meditation, you want to try to relate it to the breath. If there’s a pain in the body, how is it related to the way you breathe? How is it related to the way you conceive of … 
  14. Best Friends
     … But thoughts about the breath you encourage. And not just thoughts about breath. You also want to evaluate the breath as well. Does it feel good? Does it feel not good? Try to sensitize yourself as much as possible to the breathing energy in the body. Focus on any areas of the body where you can feel the breath coming in, the breath going … 
  15. Befriending the Breath
     … You can focus on the breath anywhere in the body that seems comfortable—it might be the tip of the nose, the base of the throat, the middle of the chest, down in your abdomen, any part of the body that lets you know clearly that now the breath is coming in, now the breath is going out. You can sense it, and it … 
  16. The Noble Truths of the Breath
     … And here’s a really good way to see it, as you focus on the breath. Because the way you perceive the breathing is going to have an impact on how you experience the breath. If you think of the breath as just the air coming in and out through the nose, that can be very restricting. It’s just those two little tiny … 
  17. Inquisitive
     … Here it is, the breath is coming in going out, and then it comes in goes out again. If you’re not very sensitive, you say, “Well, there’s not much here. Let’s move on to something else.” You’ve got to sensitize yourself both to how the breath feels in the body and how the mind relates to the breath. As Ajaan … 
  18. The Basic Medicine
     … You’re in the breathing-in, in the breathing-out. Allow those two things to stay together: your awareness and the actual sensation of the breathing. In addition to staying with the sensation of the breath, you’ll also have to think about the breathing, to keep the mind from wandering off. If the sensation of the breath isn’t enough to keep you … 
  19. Breathing through Daily Life
     … Let them get involved in the breathing, too. So even though this is work, it’s work in establishing a foundation. And while you’re here, it’s the only thing you have to worry about. You have no other responsibilities; just be in touch with the breath, the way the breath feels. How far does the sensation of the breath go down into … 
  20. Sensitive to the Breath
    When you focus on the breath, you want to be friends with the breath, which means that you have to be friendly to the breath. The breath just sits there, comes in and goes out, and pretty much responds to your activities, the activities of the mind. And there is a part of the body that tends to be shy: feelings in certain parts … 
  21. An Hour of Bliss
     … But bring it back in a way that you’re comfortable with the breath. You’re still on good terms with the breath. The breath here is a friend. As we chanted just now: Friends who are helpful are hard to find. You’ve got one right here. In fact, the more attention you pay to the breath, the more you realize what it … 
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