Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. Suppressed Emotions
     … For example, you’re dealing here with the breath, and you may notice that some ways of breathing are more comfortable than others. Then you begin to realize the connection between the discomfort and the breath, the comfort and the breath. And because the breath is something you can control to a certain extent, you’ve got your handle. You can try breathing in … 
  3. Do. Maintain. Use.
     … Get the mind to the breath. Try to keep it with the breath. Experiment with different ways of breathing to see what’s comfortable right now. Experiment with different ways of conceiving the breath that allow the mind to settle down and stay with the sensation of breathing and to connect that with the different sensations in the rest of the body. You want … 
  4. Determined to Stay with the Breath
     … Explore the different ways that the breathing feels in the body. When you breathe in, which parts of the body are participating in the breath process? Which parts are actually doing the work? Which ones are getting some nourishment? And which parts don’t seem to be having any role at all? Can you get everybody involved? Think of the breath not just as … 
  5. Heedfulness
     … You’re focusing on the breath. You’re focusing on making the breath as comfortable as you can. This is going to require getting interested in the breath. If you see the breath simply as the air coming in and out of the nose, there’s not much to get interested in. It comes in, goes out, comes in, goes out. That’s it … 
  6. Seeing with the Body
     … Simply stay with the issue of how the breath is coming in, how the breath is going out. Are you enjoying it? Even though the breath moves between two different types of pain, if you adjust it properly you can make the experience of the breath in between, the feel of the breath in between, really gratifying — as it feels good coming in, coming … 
  7. Because the Mind Is Purposeful
     … So observe yourself as you settle down with the breath. Focus on wanting to be with the breath. This is one of the proper uses of desire: You want the mind to settle down, but you don’t focus directly on the mind, and you don’t focus on thoughts of settling down. You focus on the breath, because you know that if you … 
  8. Start Out Small
     … Be with the breath, all the way in, all the way out. Just this breath. And if the breath is uncomfortable, you can adjust it. You’re not required to breathe in a particular way, and you’re not required to refrain from influencing the breath. The mind is always going to have some influence on the breath, whether it’s conscious or not … 
  9. The Thinking Cure
     … Here that message is: “breath.” So what is your concept of the breath? How do you relate to it? We talk about forcing the breath, but the breath isn’t the sort of thing you can force. You can force the blood to different parts of your body, and that’s often what we do when we think we’re moving the breath around … 
  10. Take an Interest
     … What does short breathing do to the body? What about longer breathing, deeper breathing, more shallow breathing, heavy or light, fast or slow? Mixing these things up in lots of different ways, you begin to gain a sense of the impact that the breathing has on your mind and your body. That’s an important lesson because then you can use the breath. When … 
  11. Evaluation
     … Or especially when you’re trying to focus on the breath, you tend to make a little marker between the in-breath and the out-breath, a bit of tension—all of which is unnecessary. If you want to make the breath comfortable enough to give rise to rapture and pleasure, you can’t go around squeezing it. Think of the breath breathing the … 
  12. Skill
    Focus on your breathing, wherever you feel the breathing—in other words, wherever there are sensations in the body that let you know that now the breath is coming in, now the breath is going out. Focus on those sensations. It could be a sensation of the air coming in and out the nostrils, or the movement of the shoulders, the movement of the … 
  13. Calm & Insight into Pain
     … And as you watch the breath, you begin to become more sensitive to the feelings in the body and feelings in the mind. And the perceptions: in particular, the perception that lets you stay with the breath as you’re trying to make it more and more comfortable. You have to figure out what kind of perception of the breathing is helpful in that … 
  14. Concentration & Renunciation
     … When the breath feels good, you know the breath feels good and you work with the pleasure, but you don’t leave the breath. If you leave the breath and just soak in the pleasure, the basic cause for the pleasure is going to dissipate. As the Buddha said, it’s active attention to the breath, consistent attention to the breath, that allows the … 
  15. In the Mood
     … That way you can relate to the breath, or whatever your object, in a friendly way. Being in a good mood puts the breath in good shape as well. If you feel frustrated about your breathing or frustrated about your meditation, that’s going to do funny things to your breath, make it harder and harder to stay with the breath. So think in … 
  16. The Power to Transcend Suffering
     … Ajaan Fuang would often use the word play with the breath. And it’s precisely what you want to do: You play around with it, the same way a little kid plays around with a guitar. Experiment to see what different ways of breathing are, what they do to the body. And different ways of conceiving the breath: When you think about the breath … 
  17. A Connoisseur of the Breath
     … As you stay with the breath, you focus on the breath in ways that deal with feelings, that deal with the mind, that deal with mental qualities, but you never really leave the breath. You simply train yourself to observe things in conjunction with the breath. So of all the various places you could establish mindfulness, the breath is the most important. It’s … 
  18. The Uses of Fear
     … When you visualize the breathing process to yourself, what is that visualization like? Is it helpful or does it actually cause harm? If you think of the body as a bellows—pulling the breath in, pushing it out—it’s going to make the breathing process tedious, tiresome. If you learn how to perceive the breathing process more as an energy flow, not just … 
  19. The Current News
     … Is your mind staying with the breath or is it wandering off? If it’s wandering off, bring it back. That’s part of the ardency. While you’re with the breath, ardency tries to be as sensitive as possible to how the breathing feels and how the mind’s relating to the breath. When you bring all these qualities to bear, that clears … 
  20. Developing Absorption
     … You start out, you’re thinking about the breath, you’re evaluating the breath. But then when things are good, then you can be with the breath, but don’t think thoughts about the breath. In other words, just hold that perception in mind, and just be with the breath, with the breath. As he says elsewhere, “If you think skillful thoughts all day … 
  21. Concentration as a Skill
     … When you see the danger of a mind that’s not trained compared with the benefits of having a mind that is trained, you’re more willing to put up with the tedium of having to keep coming back to the breath, coming back to the breath, working with the breath energies again and again. This applies not only to the breath, but to … 
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