Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. Giving to the Meditation
     … And then come back and be as alert to the breath as possible: How does it feel? Where do you feel the breath? Try to put aside whatever notions you have about how the breath should feel or where you should feel the breath, and try to be sensitive to how you actually feel. Where are the sensations that let you know now the … 
  3. Go, Do Jhana
     … You direct your thoughts to a particular topic like the breath. Keep reminding yourself to stay with the breath. Then you evaluate it. How is the breath going? Where do you feel the breath? When the breath comes in, what are the sensations that let you know it’s coming in? When it goes out, what sensations let you know it’s going out … 
  4. Medicine – Timely & Timeless
     … But if you see the breath energy as something present in the body all the time, try to hold that perception in mind. You’ll come to sense the breathing process in a different way. The breath is always there, it’s just a matter of letting the in-breath meld with what’s already there. Then you check to see whether “what’s … 
  5. On Not Twisting the Cow’s Horn
     … You can just be with the sensation of stillness, with the sensation of pleasure, and with the breath, immersed in the breath, all at the same time. Don’t let the pleasure separate from the breath and don’t leave the breath for the pleasure, because the fact that you’re paying attention to the breath is what allows the pleasure to stay. It … 
  6. Don’t Believe Everything You Think
     … I can step out of it.*” *Now, you’ll have to have a place to step out to, which is why we have the breath as our focus. The breath is basically a physical phenomenon, but it’s very close to the mind and it’s your mind’s anchor in the present moment. When you’re with the breath, you know you’re … 
  7. Skillful Selfing
     … The Buddha doesn’t say that you have to focus on the breath in any particular spot. You can focus anywhere in the body where the sensation of breathing feels good, or at least feels prominent and you can follow it carefully, clearly, knowing that “Now the breath is coming in, now the breath is going out.” As you stay with the breath, you … 
  8. Dhamma Intelligence
     … Start with something simple like staying with the breath. You might ask yourself, “What can you learn from the breath?” In fact, there was actually a forest ajaan one time who asked Ajaan Lee, “Why do you teach people breath meditation? What is there to see in the breath? It’s just in, out, in, out.” And as Ajaan Lee said, “Well, if that … 
  9. Acceptance
    As you focus on the breath, see what kind of breathing feels best. You can focus on any spot in the body where you’re sensitive to the sensation of breathing. It doesn’t have to be where the air is passing through the nose. It can be the rise and fall of the stomach, the rise and fall of the chest, or anyplace … 
  10. Stick with It
    Close your eyes and focus on the breath. When you breathe in, notice: Where do you feel the sensation of breathing? Where do you feel it when you breathe out? Keep your awareness focused right there. It can be any part of the body. The important thing is that you allow it to be comfortable. Don’t tense up or force the breath or … 
  11. The Cool Fire of Jhana
     … As the breath comes in, it’s simply new energy pooling into the energies you’ve already got. There’s no clear line between the breath energy already there and the new breath coming in. They mingle together. Think of it that way. When the breath goes out, you don’t have to squeeze it all out. Let the breath do the out-breath … 
  12. Breath Energies
     … You use your imagination in asking questions about the breath right here. What would long breathing be like? What would short breathing be like? How about broad breathing? How about narrow breathing? How about, as Ajaan Lee says, thinking of the breath coming in the back of the skull, going down the spine: What would that be like? You start out with the principles … 
  13. Proving the Teachings
     … Focus on the breath. Notice where you feel the in-breath, where you feel the out-breath. Focus on the process of breathing. It doesn’t have to be the air coming in and out of the nose. Just whatever sensations are there in the body that let you know that now the breath is coming in, now the breath is going out: Focus … 
  14. A Sense of Well-being
     … You can see this most clearly when the breath is still. When the breath is moving, the process of breathing in and of itself creates a shape for the body. As Ajaan Lee recommends, when you let the breath energy open up to every pore, that allows the breath to calm down, calm down, calm down. Think of every pore in your skin opening … 
  15. Heedful, Attentive, Mindful
     … What that means is that you establish your awareness with the breath, or something in the body right here and now. It could be the thirty-two parts of the body, but the Buddha starts with the breath. When he talks about establishing mindfulness, the most detailed instructions are those with regard to breath meditation. As you focus on the breath, you start by … 
  16. Off the Continuum
     … You can think of the breath channels all connecting so that they can do all the work in getting the breath energy to the different parts of the body. You don’t have to worry about breathing in and breathing out. You don’t have to force the breath. You don’t have to manage the breath so much. Just connect things up inside … 
  17. Monotasking
    When we focus on the breath, we’re monotasking. We’ve got one thing to do right now, and that’s to stay with the breath. For those of us who are used to multitasking, we feel at loose ends. It’s as if we’d grown lots of extra hands to take care of our multiple tasks all at once, and now all … 
  18. On Being Non-reactive
     … In the same way, when the breath energies in the body are very still, you can sense the movements of the mind very clearly, and that’s what we’re here for. The breath is like a thread that you follow through a maze to get to the mind in the middle. When the breath gets still, the mind becomes more and more clear … 
  19. Self-Reliance
     … Sometimes it’s simply a matter of changing your concept of the breath, and the breath will change. You can play with that for a while, see how your perceptions shape the breath. Start questioning your assumptions. Sometimes we feel that we have to pull the breath in. Well, do you really have to pull it in? Can’t it just come in on … 
  20. Inner Wealth Management
     … Don’t leave the breath and just wallow in the pleasure. You have to remember that the sense of pleasure associated with the breath comes from the fact that you’re alert to the breath, that you’re paying careful attention to the breath. Ajaan Lee’s image is of someone who’s working and gaining a wage at the same time. If you … 
  21. Dhamma Books & the Actuality
     … Do what you can to develop an interest in the breath. For the time being, that’s all there is in the world for you: just how the breath energy works in the body – where you feel the breath energy. When you breathe in, where do you feel it? Say that the stomach expands; the diaphragm expands to pull the breath in. Actually, the … 
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