Search results for: "Feeling"

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  2. Responsible Happiness
     … Does it feel good? Does it feel nourishing? If the in-breath is too short, you feel like you’re not getting your full ration of breathing energy. If it’s too long, it becomes tight towards the end. The same when you’re breathing out. If your out-breath is too short, you feel there’s more that needs to get out of … 
  3. Choosing Your Allies
     … When you breathe in, exactly how does it feel? When you breathe out, exactly how does it feel? We have some cartoon ideas in our head about what happens as the air comes in and out of the lungs through the nose, through the mouth. But when you actually sit down and sense the breath from inside—in other words, feel your body from … 
  4. What Is One
     … That means, for instance, when you’re working with the breath, trying to breathe in a way that feels really, really satisfying. It’s not just in, out, in, out. Ask yourself, “Where are the most sensitive parts in the body right now? Can you breathe for their sake? And what kind of breathing would feel good for them?” You may have a personal … 
  5. Appreciating Dispassion
     … We know how to breathe, we know how to talk to ourselves, we know how to develop perceptions and feelings to adjust the world we live in, to adjust our experience of the world we live in. These are all fabrications, and basically we feel pretty comfortable with them because they’re so familiar. We feel at home with things that respond to our … 
  6. Mistakes
     … Looking after the breath means noticing where you feel it, how it feels when it comes in, how it feels when it goes out, and checking to see if you can figure out what kind of breathing feels good, what kind of breathing is best for the body right now. You can experiment: longer breathing, shorter breathing, deeper, more shallow, heavier, lighter. Or you … 
  7. The Four Bases of Success
     … And when you bring that attitude to the meditation, it’s a lot easier to put in the extra effort, to put in the extra hours, to sit through pain, to sit longer than you might otherwise, to sit when you don’t feel like sitting. This is important. If you sit only when you feel like sitting, then that’s all you know … 
  8. Count Your Blessings
     … If you start focusing on the parts of the body that hurt, that are sore, that feel tired, it gets harder and harder and harder to walk. But if you focus on the areas that are comfortable, that are not feeling tired, the parts that are feeling energetic, then you can walk for longer periods of time. So this is one of the important … 
  9. In Training
     … How does long breathing feel? Does it feel right for you right now? How about short breathing? Or you can try in long, out short; in short, out long. Fast, slow, heavy, light, deep, shallow. Trying to discern where you feel the breathing in the body. What kind of breathing is comfortable? Then from there you train. You train to be sensitive to the … 
  10. Your Intentions Come First
     … You can breathe in any kind of way, so how about breathing in a way that feels really, really good?—a way that feels nourishing for the body, soothing for the mind, energizing when you’re feeling tired, grounding when you’re feeling scattered. There’s lots to explore right here. So make that your intention. You want to explore what the breath can … 
  11. Toxic Environments
     … If you feel like you’re alone in your goodness, remind yourself that you have the Buddha and the noble ones on your side. Hold that perception in mind. A lot of the reason why we feel so influenced by toxic places is because we’re hoping to take in something from them. We’re hoping for approval, something to give us some emotional … 
  12. Commit & Reflect All Around
     … In other words, you stay with the breath, wherever you feel it in the body. When the Buddha is talking about breath, he’s not talking about the air coming in and out through the nose. That’s a tactile sensation. He’s talking about one of the properties of the body itself—the energy you feel as you breathe in and breathe out … 
  13. Reclaiming the Breath
     … Find at least one toehold in your body where the breath feels okay—where the energy feels okay. You may want to find a still spot. They’re located in different parts of the body. Ajaan Lee talks about the still spot that’s right at the diaphragm. But you could find others as well—the middle of the head, right where the legs … 
  14. The Uses of Concentration
     … Then allow the breath to find a rhythm that feels just right. See where your sense of ease is right now: which parts of the body feel okay, not tense, not tight. This may involve a slight trick of perception. We tend to focus on the pains, the tight areas, the problems, and we miss the areas that are actually okay. It’s like … 
  15. The Sublime Attitudes in Context
     … When you tell yourself you should have compassion for a certain person, but you don’t feel it, or you harbor very uncompassionate feelings about that person, you have to look at those feelings. You can’t just slather over them with clouds of goodwill, because they won’t go away. You’ve got to probe and ask: Why would you want this person … 
  16. Achieving Balance
     … Where are those bones? In other words, when you think about the bones in the toe, focus on the feeling in the toe. With the bones in your feet, focus on the feelings in your feet; and so on, up through the body. This way you give the mind work to do. If your mind won’t settle down with the bones, survey the … 
  17. Discernment Fosters Concentration
     … This is an energizing quality, and you maintain it as long as it feels needed, as long as it feels good. Some people read the descriptions of concentration and say, “I’ve done this so far, now what’s next?” Well, allow each step to do its work. We’re not here to do the seven-minute jhanas. As the mind begins to settle … 
  18. Cooking the Present Moment
     … The way you breathe is going to make a big difference in how you feel your body from within right now. That’s why the breath is called a bodily fabrication. Then there’s verbal fabrication—your inner chatter right now: asking questions, making statements, commenting on this, commenting on that. If you leave that mental chatter to its old ways, it just wanders … 
  19. Values
     … What kind of breathing feels good? What kind of breathing doesn’t feel good? You train yourself to develop breathing that gives rise to a sense of refreshment, gives rise to a sense of pleasure. If the mind is scattered, you learn to breathe in ways, think in ways, that get it to settle down, be more concentrated. If it’s feeling low, you … 
  20. Turn Off the Automatic Pilot
     … How can you breathe in a way that feels really good? If you haven’t been paying much attention to the breath, it’s going to take a while to get sensitive to what really does feel good for the body. Because when you’re using your mind for other things, the breath energy gets trampled on. And, as with anything that’s been … 
  21. How to Leave Meditation
     … If you can notice how the body feels when things are settled in and feeling good, refreshed, nourished, at ease, energized, relaxed, or whatever feels good for you, see if you can remember that and try to recreate it the next time around. This is especially important if you have a tendency to regard the whole hour as a time to settle down. This … 
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