Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. Free for the Time Being
     … Think of all the various things you’ve been holding on to and feeding on and stashing away, like a squirrel, throughout the day, getting swept away with the breath, down out the feet and out. Do a little housecleaning here. The Buddha says that an important part of staying with the breath, staying with the body in and of itself, is what he … 
  3. Good & Independent
     … But actually, your first immediate experience of the body is through the energy, the breath. So let the breath have priority right now. It can go anywhere in the body. Expand your awareness to fill the body. Expand the breath to flow throughout the body so that you’ve got the breath filling the body. You’ve got a sense of ease filling the … 
  4. Light Merit
     … So you stay with the breath and get interested in the breath. See what ways the breath can create a sense of well-being in the body, a sense of well-being in the mind. For the time being, that’s all you have to worry about: just the present moment. This is a really good practice, cutting off thoughts of past, cutting off … 
  5. The Lightness of the Concentrated Mind
     … The only movement is the movement of the breath. Then you realize that you have the perception that the breath comes from the outside. Actually, though, the breath comes from inside. It pulls air in from outside. But it’s the energy in the body that allows that air to come in. If it weren’t for the energy in the body, the air … 
  6. Ups & Downs
     … Try to see what you can do with the breath, because at the very least you know while you’re with the breath that you’re at the right spot. This was the spot where the Buddha was when he gained awakening, right where the mind and the body meet at the breath. There was simply the combination of his past karma and his … 
  7. Choices that Matter
     … You could choose to be with the breath or to wander around. If you choose to be with the breath, you can decide what kind of breathing you want to do: fast, slow, heavy, light. You can decide where you want to focus in the body. You can choose what kinds of perceptions you hold in mind about the breath. You can perceive the … 
  8. The Skill of Stillness
     … For a while you’ll be running around the body, surveying the different parts of the body as you open up the breath channels here, open up the breath channels there, to allow the breath to go through. But there comes a point where things are pretty much open. The breath is pretty satisfactory. You don’t have to run around so much anymore … 
  9. Ānāpānasati Day
     … Or even directly staying with the breath, there are ways of perceiving the breath that are calming both for the breath and the mind. You can perceive the breath as the air coming in and out through the nose, or you can perceive it as the sense of energy throughout the body, which is more calming. It allows a sense of well-being to … 
  10. Time to Heal
     … You’ll find—if you’ve been carrying a lot of burdens, a lot of responsibilities around—that the breath energy in the body could use a lot of healing work. And you find that it gets really interesting. Here it is: your own body, and you’ve missed parts of it. As you learn how to direct the breath energy around, you find … 
  11. Imagine
     … The same way with the breath: You open up channels in the body, and the breath energy will flow. You don’t have to push it. There’s lots to discover here. Lots to explore. Focus your desires on wanting to learn about the breath energy in the body. When you come up with a good idea, or with any idea that seems worth … 
  12. Control
     … As for any thoughts that go off toward the pain, you have to say, “Nope, I’m going to direct my thoughts to the breath. I’m going to direct my thoughts to making the breath comfortable. And I’ll evaluate the breath and evaluate the success of my efforts.” Because the breath is something that responds to your intentions. It does have its … 
  13. Purity Comes Through Discernment
     … The main kinds of fabrication the Buddha talked about are directed thought and evaluation, and feeling and perception, although the breath also comes under the topic of fabrication. The way you breathe in relationship to some things actually will change your relationship to them. This is why he starts meditation with the breath, getting to know the breath, getting on familiar terms with it … 
  14. Exploring What You’ve Got
     … So, think about the breath and be aware of the breath. And then be aware of the next breath and then the next and then the next. Just keep at it. As you stay here, your awareness of the breath will get more refined. You see more clearly what you’ve got right here, what potentials there are, both in term of physical potentials … 
  15. Training the Mind to Train the Mind
     … We develop the ability to remember by keeping the mind with the breath and reminding ourselves again and again, “Stay with the breath. Stay with the breath.” That’s mindfulness. Alertness is actually watching what you’re doing: watching what the breath is like and watching what the mind is like right now, what it’s doing, and the results of what it’s … 
  16. Unattractive
    As Ajaan Fuang used to say, the breath is the basis of our skill here, and concentration focused on the breath is the safest of all the concentration practices. It’s the one where you can see most clearly the stages of jhana as the mind settles down. You can see the different kinds of fabrication: bodily, verbal, mental. Bodily, being the breath itself … 
  17. In the Present
     … Think of the breath coming in and out through all the pores. It can flow anywhere in the body, so wherever there’s a sense of tightness or blockage, hold in mind the perception that allows your mind to believe, okay, the breath can go through the blockage, no matter how solid your bones or the pains or any other solid-seeming parts may … 
  18. Building a Home for the Mind
     … The more precise your awareness of what’s going on, the more precise your sensitivity to what’s going on, then the more solid and balanced the breath becomes, the more solid your concentration becomes. The more solid your concentration, the clearer your awareness of what’s going on inside. So you’re evaluating the breath, evaluating the way the mind relates to the … 
  19. How to Leave Meditation
     … If there’s a sense of ease in the breath, it’s a lot easier to stay with the body. You can give yourself some task to do. Remind yourself that when anger, fear, or any unskillful emotion comes into the mind, there’s going to be a corresponding tension in the breath. The rate of the breath will change. The quality of the … 
  20. Accepting the Way Things Function
     … When you’re dealing with the breath, it’s not just a matter of keeping watch over the breath. You also have to look at how you’re thinking about the breath, what images you have. What are you telling yourself about the breath? Could you tell yourself something different that would still be true, but would have a different impact on the body … 
  21. Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, Space
     … These properties are also useful as you’re trying to settle down and gain a sense of well-being in the body, especially with the breath. You can think of the breath as a whole-body process. It makes the breath a much better object for meditation than just having it in one spot—say, at the nose, or just the air coming in … 
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