Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. Useful Thinking
    When you meditate, you want to put most of your thinking aside, so that you can focus on the breath, be aware of the present moment as much as you can. But you can’t put all your thinking aside. The decision to stay with the breath, to stay in the present, is a certain type of thinking. You have to have an idea … 
  3. Insight in Concentration
     … If your mind wanders away from the breath, you run into the fence, which is here to remind you to go back to the breath. Otherwise, let the talk stay in the background, like you let your thoughts stay in the background. Try to bring the breath up to the fore. Think of the breath as the energy filling the whole body, and open … 
  4. Preparing to Meditate
     … You have to be mindful, you have to keep the breath in mind, and you have to be alert. One, alert to the breath itself. What’s going on in the breath? Is it coming in? Is it going out? Is it comfortable? Is it not? And then, two, alert to what the mind is doing. Is the mind staying with the breath? Or … 
  5. An Island of Concentration
     … But they’re right near the breath as you focus on it, which is one of the reasons why we focus on the breath. When the Buddha talks about the four ways of establishing mindfulness, he gives most detailed instructions on being with the breath, and then had points out that when you’re with the breath, you’ve got feelings right there: the … 
  6. Be Observant
     … Start with the breath because the breath is nearby, and the movements of the breath are more obvious than the movements of the mind. Ultimately, you’re going to want to turn around and look at the mind itself, but the mind is extremely subtle and fast. So you practice first with things that are a little bit slower, more blatant. Try to see … 
  7. Pure Action
     … We’re working with the breath; we’ve got the opportunity to develop all those sankharas. The breath is here, directed thought and evaluation—verbal fabrication: That’s right here as we think about the breath and watch and evaluate the breath. As for the feelings and perceptions that are mental fabrications: They’re right here as well. Everything you need to make a … 
  8. A Clear Agenda
     … How are you going to get the mind to stay settled down with the breath? That’s the effort right now. As for right mindfulness, you keep the breath in mind. And regardless of whatever else comes up, you try to relate it to the breath. Feelings come up and you relate them to the breath. “How does this feeling of pleasure or pain … 
  9. Basic Breath, Basic Insight
     … While you’re with the breath, ardency means trying to be as sensitive as possible to how the breath feels, as sensitive as possible to how you can adjust the breath in a way that really does feel good, because sometimes when you adjust it, you can be too heavy-handed. You can force the breath in ways that end up creating a headache … 
  10. Constant, Easeful, Self
     … You bring it right back to the breath. And you keep bringing it back to the breath. No matter how many times it wanders off, you keep coming back. Try to make the breath easeful and be on the lookout for the next time the mind is going to wander off. This morning I was talking to someone who was dealing with the issue … 
  11. Close to What You Know
     … What are you doing with the breath? What are you doing with the mind? What assumptions are you using about the breath and the mind? And what results do you get? Sometimes you find yourself creating a sense of self around the breath. As you get more and more used to the breath energy in the body, you develop a set series of ways … 
  12. Painful Thinking
     … In this case, you change how you focus on the breath to see what effect that has on the breathing. Your focus can be too hard, and it can be too light. How do you know which is which? Well, try different strengths of focus on the breath. Focus on different parts of the body. See where you like to stay focused, where the … 
  13. The Good We Already Have
     … Like the breath. Ordinarily, the breath comes in and goes out, and there’s not that much to it. But if you focus your attention on it steadily as you tune into the breath, you find that the sense of ease grows greater and greater and greater. It’s like the sun shining on a seed. If the seed is left in the dark … 
  14. Healing & Protection
     … You may also notice that, when you breathe in, you tend to pull the breath in one direction. Does it feel good to pull it in that direction, or does it tense things up? Sometimes you have the feeling you’re pulling the breath up or you may be pulling the breath down, so experiment. Just pose that question in the mind: What would … 
  15. Savor Your Breath
    Savor Your Breath July 20, 2021 To really enjoy the breath meditation, you have to learn how to savor your breath. There are different ways you can do that, as there are with savoring a sensual pleasure, such as fine food or beautiful music. Part of the skill of savoring is putting yourself in a receptive mood, part of it is how you talk … 
  16. Chew Your Food Well
     … So just stay with the breath. Feel the breath and the process of breathing. Where do you feel it? Where do you notice it? Where can you see most vividly: “Now the breath is coming in; now the breath is going out”? Well, focus right there. And then allow that part of the body to feel comfortable. You may notice that at the end … 
  17. Issues of Control
     … What are the results? You take on the breath: You learn how to control the breath and you learn by trying to adjust it here, adjust it there; learning what kind of adjustments are too strong and too harsh; which adjustments are too weak; where the breath needs to go. As for when you need to think of the breath in different ways: There … 
  18. Friends with the Breath, Friends with the Buddha
    Ajaan Fuang has a nice passage where he talks about the breath as being like a nursemaid who’s been looking after you for all your life, but you haven’t paid that much attention to her to see what kind of person she is, why she’s been so kind to you. Whether you pay attention or not, she keeps breathing in, breathing … 
  19. Thinking & Not Thinking
     … With the body, it’s the breath. Try to think of the breath, be aware of the breath as it’s coming in going out. Watch it to see what kind of breathing feels good. Experiment to see what kind of breathing feels good. At the same time, look after the mind. Be sensitive to the mind. Try to gladden it so that it … 
  20. The Hedgefox
     … You’re focusing on the breath. Is that all there is in your experience right now? Well, no. There are feelings, too: feelings of pleasure that may relate to the breath, or pains, if the breath feels constricted. Or pleasure with the breath and pains in other parts of the body. Then look at who’s doing the looking at the breath: There’s … 
  21. A Committed Relationship
    When we meditate, we’re trying to establish a good relationship between the mind and the breath: a relationship of harmony, trust; one where both sides benefit. It’s very much like establishing a relationship with another person. And so it’s useful to think about what the Buddha has to say about developing good relations with another person, and to see where we … 
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