Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. An Auspicious Day
     … If you want to observe the body and to observe the mind, the breath is a good place to stay, because you can see influences coming from both directions: the ways in which feelings in the body influence the mind, and the ways the acts of the mind have an impact on the body. Try to filter them through the breath. The breath here … 
  3. To Be Worthy of the Dhamma
     … For example, with the breath: You’re sensitive to how long the breath is, how short the breath is, how it feels throughout the entire body, and then as the Buddha says, you calm bodily fabrication. Now, when you look at some of his other instructions, you realize that you have to energize it first before you calm it down. As he said, if … 
  4. Fear of Death
     … This is why you work with the breath so that it becomes your natural base of operation and your natural foundation—natural in the sense that you’ve made it habitual. And it helps, of course, when the breath is comfortable or you can make it comfortable. After all, there is an intentional element in the breath. This is why it’s called bodily … 
  5. Housecleaning
     … The closer you can get to the center of the body, the core of the body, the more gratifying the breath can be. Or you can think of the breath doing deep, deep, deep into your head. Any part of the body that you’ve neglected for a long time: Let the breath do its work. It’ll take time. Some patterns of tension … 
  6. The Energy You Broadcast
     … This is why we work with the breath: to create a place where the mind can settle down and really feel at home, really feel connected inside. And this is why one of the steps in breath meditation is just that: getting connected. As you get more and more sensitive to the breath energy, you can begin to see areas in which it’s … 
  7. Insight from Jhana
     … So you’ve got the breath as form. Then you’ve got the feelings, of course, that come with the breath—either comfort or discomfort—and the perceptions that hold you with the breath, along with the various ways of perceiving the breath that allow you to get into deeper and deeper states of concentration. When you can drop the breath and go into … 
  8. Karma in the Present
     … What is it? You’ve got the breath coming in and out: That’s bodily fabrication. There’s an intentional element in how you breathe, so try to breathe in a way that creates a sense of well-being right now. Then there’s verbal fabrication: directed thought and evaluation. Direct your thoughts to the breath. Evaluate the breath. Do you like this breath … 
  9. Transparent Becoming
     … So try to take an interest in the breath. Give yourself reasons to stay. If the mind gets bored, give it variations in the breath, variations in your focal point. There are lots of ways you can stay with the breathing, lots of ways you can conceive the breath process in the body. Some things we can learn from tai chi or Chinese teachings … 
  10. Two Eyes, Not Just One
     … When you’re looking at the breath—say, the breath in the nose—how’s the breath going in the back of the neck? If there’s a problem in the front, you might ask yourself, “How’s the breath flowing down the back?” or vice versa. You’ve got a backache or back pain of some kind? Ask yourself how the breath energy … 
  11. Concentration
     … You’re here to focus on the breath, not on thoughts of jhana or absorption. In fact, even the words of this talk: Don’t let them get in the way of your focusing on the breath, watching the breath as it comes in, as it goes out, being intent to stay right here with the breath. The talk is here to encourage you … 
  12. Ekaggata
     … When you think of the breath in a particular way, when you focus on it in a particular way, what happens? Look carefully at this. The more time you spend looking at this, the more you begin to realize that some aspects of the breath can be affected by your present intention, while there are some things you can’t change. That’s something … 
  13. Worlds
     … As those storms come blowing through, sometimes the best thing you can do is simply hold onto the breath. Just as you would batten down for a storm, you just lie low and try to hold tight to the breath for dear life as the winds blow through. You hang onto the breath as tenaciously as you can. Even though it doesn’t fill … 
  14. Encouraging Perceptions
     … When we focus on the sensation of the breathing, we’re also keeping in mind a particular perception of the breath so that we know what to look for, where to look for the breath. For example, if you have a perception of breath simply as air coming in and out of the lungs, you’re going to be looking in one place and … 
  15. Why We Meditate
     … It’s the same with the breath. It takes a while sometimes for the breath to help heal the mind, but it is healing, and when the breath is comfortable coming in, going out, you can get touch with how to let that comfortable sensation spread throughout the body, down the nerves, throughout the body, out to the skin. Then just let it stay … 
  16. Withstanding Pleasure & Pain
     … This is why we use directed thought and evaluation with the breath. Watch your breath for a while and notice where it’s comfortable, where it’s not comfortable. At what point does the breath get too long? Or how does it feel when the breath is too short? You explore these things. You think about them, you ask questions, and you evaluate. When … 
  17. Do Jhana
     … As with the breath: The breath energy is something that’s present throughout the body, which is one of the reasons why it’s the number-one topic of concentration. We’ve got the in-and-out breath. But also we’ve got the breath energies moving in the nerves, the breath energy moving down the muscles and through the blood vessels. Every part … 
  18. Evaluation
     … You evaluate the breath. You evaluate the way you’re perceiving the breath, the mental images you have of the breath, the way you discuss the breath with yourself, and then you make adjustments. That way, the breath becomes comfortable, the mind can begin to settle down with a sense of ease and well-being, and the mind and the breath can become snug … 
  19. Right View Tells You What to Do
     … focusing on the breath, and clearing out other things that get in the way. And then we bring three qualities to this practice: ardency, alertness, and mindfulness. Ardency is trying to do it well. If you’re not with the breath, you try to bring your attention back as quickly as possible. When you are with the breath you try to be as sensitive … 
  20. Unskillful Thinking
     … How is the breath energy going in the body? They say that the breath energy can be felt all the way down to the toes. Can you feel it? So when you’re sitting around doing nothing, you don’t have to do nothing, you can watch your breath, you can play with the breath, you can learn about the breath. At the same … 
  21. Do You Want to Stop Suffering?
     … You keep returning to the breath. If the mind wanders off, just drop whatever it’s wandering off to and think about the breath again. Get back in touch with the feeling of the breath. Now, if you can think about the breath and evaluate it with the purpose of getting to settle down, you’re developing both concentration and insight at the same … 
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