Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. Eeeels
     … The analogy has to do with the breath. You want to make the breath comfortable, to give the mind something it likes. If your mind likes dead dogs, give it a dead dog. If it likes comfortable breath, give it a comfortable breath. Pay close attention to how the breathing feels. It’s really a shame how we let the breathing process go to … 
  3. The Fetter of Perceptions
    When I first went to stay with the Ajaan Fuang and read Ajaan Lee’s instructions on the breath energy going through the nerves, around the muscles of the body, and through the different organs of the torso, I didn’t realize it, but part of me thought of it as kind of make-believe. Until one day I was sitting, meditating and noticed … 
  4. What We’re Here to See
     … This is why we bring it to the breath. The task at hand now is to develop concentration around the breath, or if you don’t like the word concentration, just think of the mind being centered in the breath, dwelling in the breath Notice when you breathe in where it’s clearest. Focus your attention there and try to keep it there. The … 
  5. Skills to Make a Difference
     … You learn how to vary your offerings. ** So as you’re sitting here meditating, focusing on the breath, notice what kind of breathing you like. And remember that the breathing you like right now may not be the breathing you’ll like in five minutes, so keep on top of it. Another image the Buddha gives is of an archer who’s able to … 
  6. Learning by Doing
     … You’re going to keep the breath in mind right now. And then you’re alert to watch the breath. Then you bring the quality of ardency, which means you want to do it right, you want to do it well. That’s a factor that’s missing from most people’s meditation. Sometimes they’re told to just watch whatever comes and whatever … 
  7. The Importance of Being Focused
    As you focus on the breath, it often helps to keep reminding yourself of how important the breath is, and why it’s important to be able to train the mind to stay with one thing. The breath is important, because after all it is the force of life. It’s what keeps the mind and the body together. And the quality of the … 
  8. How to Really Depend on Yourself
     … focusing on the breath, starting out with long, deep in-and-out breaths; working with the word Buddho,; dropping the Buddho to analyze the breath; working the breath throughout the body. Find a spot in the body to be centered. Then combine all the different breath energies in the body so that they’re unified. These are the basic principles. As for the details … 
  9. Brahmaviharas at the Breath
    Brahmaviharas at the Breath February 7, 2010 We chant the brahmaviharas, the four sublime attitudes, every evening before the meditation. It’s to remind ourselves of the attitudes we should bring to ourselves and to other people: attitudes of goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy or appreciation, and equanimity. You notice that the chant starts with extending these attitudes toward ourselves. One of the difficulties in … 
  10. Expanding Your Skill Set
     … So you bring your awareness and your thinking to the breath. Try to keep the breath in mind: That’s the property of mindfulness, reminding yourself of what’s important to pay attention to, what’s important to remember. For the time being, there’s only one thing you really have to worry about, and that’s staying with the breath coming in, the … 
  11. The Essence of the Dhamma
     … This means taking an interest in the breath, exploring the possibilities of this breath energy in the body. How can you breathe in a way that helps the mind to settle down? How can you best think about the breath? What mental image do you have of the breath that makes the breath more satisfying? You can try different ways of thinking about the … 
  12. Fully Absorbed
     … Remind yourself, if you really have goodwill for that person, you really have goodwill for yourself, you come back here to the breath. Because giving the breath your total attention is the path to finding a happiness that causes no one any harm. And you’re looking at things in a different framework. As the Thai ajaans often like to say, when you’re … 
  13. Success with Breathing
     … When you come to the breath, you’re just sitting here: You with the breath and your awareness of the breath. You hear about the descriptions of right concentration where you stay with the breath continually in such a way that gives rises to a sense of pleasure or a sense of rapture or fullness. And you don’t see where in the breath … 
  14. Harmless & Clearheaded
     … Don’t force the breath. You’re not trying to put yourself into a trance, you’re simply here to follow the way the breath feels, all the way in, all the way out. You can focus on any part of the body where the sensation is clear that now the breath is coming in, now the breath is going out. And explore to … 
  15. On Human Nature
     … What’s it like to stay with the breath for long periods of time? Do your best to argue with the mind, cajole the mind, anything that works to keep the mind with the breath, exploring how to make the breath comfortable, looking at the breath energy in the different parts of the body you don’t normally look at: the breath in your … 
  16. De-thinking
     … If you’re having trouble with the breathing, if your breath seems constricted or tight, remind yourself of this, and it’ll open up a lot. And then you can start asking other questions about how the breath comes in: “Where does it come in the body?” “Where are the entry points of the breath?” “What kind of energy comes in, goes out?” “What … 
  17. The Four Noble Truths from Within
     … So learn to sit with the breath for a while and just think that the breath can do the work. If you push things, you’re pushing the blood, and that’s going to create problems. But if you think of the breath as being able to penetrate even the most solid parts of the body, that takes a lot of the pressure off … 
  18. Between You and Your Eyes
    The Buddha’s teachings are primarily about things that are immediately present to our awareness—the feeling of the breath, the movements of the body, thoughts moving in the mind: things immediately present, but things that we tend to miss, things we’re pretty ignorant about. When we suffer, we think we know suffering, but we don’t really. When we have a desire … 
  19. The Third Frame of Reference
     … And here the breath is very helpful. What way of breathing is energizing? What feels really satisfying as the breath comes in, the breath goes out, healing the body, and through the body, healing the mind? This is an important skill. It requires that you learn how to read your breath and to notice how the breath has an effect on the mind. This … 
  20. Fighting off Ignorance
     … As for your directed thought and evaluation, for the time being you simply want to direct your thoughts to the breath and evaluate the breath. Be very deliberate in what you’re going to think about. As for the labels you put on things, think of the whole body as breath energy. See if that makes the breathing easier. When you breathe in, think … 
  21. Commit & Reflect All Around
     … As he learned about the breath—of course at that time, he had a very strong motivating factor—the question was: Was he going to survive or not? He also learned, observed a lot of things about the breath that he hadn’t known before. So try to develop a sense of ease with the breath, so that it’s comfortable to stay here … 
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