Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. Good Fences All Around You
     … You get the breath to work in there, because the breath goes deeper. The breath is actually more immediate than any other part of your body. The energy flow that you’ve got here: Work with that to reclaim your body. That gives you a better perspective on the various thoughts and feelings and urges that would pull you away from the practice, pull … 
  3. The Inner Monitor
     … First you’ve got the breath, which is the object treasure. In other words, it’s the right object to settle on, because it’s very close to the mind. And among all bodily functions, it’s the one most responsive to your direction. You can think about making the breath more comfortable, more refreshing, and it responds. Think about making it longer, shorter … 
  4. With Reference to the World
     … There is little stirring in the breath, and the mind latches on to it. It doesn’t look at it simply as a stirring in the breath, it becomes the basis for a thought-world and turns into something totally different. So one of our tasks as meditators is to learn how not to switch over into the world in that way. We have … 
  5. Above & Beyond Suffering
     … So we use the breath as a way of making the mind more sensitive. Notice how the breath energy flows. When the breath comes in, where does it feel like it’s coming in? Forget what you’ve learned about its coming through the nose. If you were totally uninformed about in and outs of the the breath, where would you say that the … 
  6. Humility & Confidence
     … When you come to the breath, how does the breath actually feel in the body? The perceptions you have of the breath: How do they color the way you experience the breath? Ajaan Lee gives lots of examples of how to think of the breath: different types of breath energy in the body, different levels of breath energy in the body, breath energy going … 
  7. Refuge
     … In the very beginning, this may mean taking good long, deep in-and-out breaths, to clear out all your energy channels and to make sure that the breath is perfectly obvious here in the present moment. As you settle in, allow the breath to get more subtle. You’ve got to create a good safe place here, a strong place, a solid place … 
  8. Alternative Conceptions
    When you look at the breath, there’s not just the sensation of the breathing. You find that there’s also your perception of breath, the mental image you have of it. It’s not the case that you have the pure sensation and then you add the mental image on top of it. Sometimes the mental image will determine what you sense. You … 
  9. Training Your Minds
     … One of the reasons I liked the Ajaan Lee method was because it made the breath interesting. Prior to that, the breath was just in out, in out, in out, especially when they told you not to adjust it, not to make any changes, just be with the breath as it was. It got pretty boring, and you began to wonder what it was … 
  10. Feeding Frenzy: Dependent Co-arising
     … When you’re focused on the breath, thinking about and evaluating the breath, you’ve got all these things right there. You’ve got the breath, you’ve got yourself thinking and evaluating the breath, and you’ve got the feelings of pleasure and pain that come from the breath, along with perceptions that keep you focused both on the breath and on the … 
  11. Damming & Diverting
     … the feeling of ease that comes when the breath feels good and also the perceptions that hold you in place—perceptions of what the breath is doing in the body, where the breath stops, where it starts. All of this fabrication goes into creating this state of concentration. And as you get really good at it, you find there are certain things you can … 
  12. Informing the Whole Committee
     … The part that wants immediate gratification, well, you give a little something to that by making the breath comfortable. The part that gets easily bored, you give something to that by asking yourself questions about the breath, exploring this whole issue of the breath energy in the body. The part that wants to talk, well, you give something to talk about, talk about the … 
  13. Mindfulness of Death
     … You’re going to be focused quite strongly there, so it’s good to have other good things right there next to the breath, memories right next to the breath, of what you should do when you stay with the breath. You engage in skillful mental fabrication, i.e., you choose the right feelings to focus on, to whatever extent you can create a … 
  14. Facing Your Responsibilities
     … You work with the breath. As long as you’re with the breath, you know you’re in the present moment. And after a while you begin to learn a very important lesson: that if you’re going to watch the mind, you watch it in its actions. You watch it in the act of dealing with the breath, trying to stay with the … 
  15. Homage Through the Practice
     … And be mindful of the breathing. In other words, keep the breath in mind. Then be alert to what’s going on with the breathing. When the breath comes in, know it’s coming in. When it goes out, know it’s going out. If it’s comfortable or not, notice that, too. The word “breath” here means the whole process of breathing. Your … 
  16. Maintenance Work
    It’s not hard to look at the breath or to think about the breath. What’s hard to keep on doing it continually, regardless of distractions. But it turns out that the hard part is one that’s most important, because then the mind has a good place to settle down. Otherwise, just thinking about the breath becomes just one more place for … 
  17. Analysis of Qualities
     … What images do you hold in mind? The same as when you’re dealing with the breath: What kind of image do you have of the breath? It’s good to think of the breath as the energy flowing throughout the body, down through the nerves, down through the blood vessels, out to the tips of the fingers, out to the tips of the … 
  18. A Gift of Well-Being
     … Think about the breath and ask yourself, “What kind of breathing would be most comfortable?” You can experiment. See what kind of results you get. Does long breathing feel good now? Ajaan Lee recommends starting out with long breathing as a way of energizing the body and energizing the mind. Then let the breath find its own rhythm. But it often helps to nudge … 
  19. Genuine Goodness
     … What are the best ways to bring the mind to stillness? What are best ways to gain a sense of well-being in the mind? Focus on the breath, see how it feels. What kind of breathing feels best? In focusing on the breath, you’re also learning about the mind. As Ajaan Lee says, the breath is like a mirror for the mind … 
  20. Shaping Your Life
     … The way you’re focusing on the breath right now has an impact on how you’re experiencing the breath. Your concepts about the breath, your concepts about what it means to be focused, your intention in being with the breath: All of these things shape the breath, shape your experience of the breath. You want to get sensitive to them so that you … 
  21. A Home for the Mind
     … Okay, now the mind is about to go, so double your efforts to stay with the breath. And remind yourself that the breath can be really comfortable. Rapture is one of the qualities that can come from staying steadily with the breath with sensitivity, with alertness. So if the breath doesn’t feel really comfortable, you can ask yourself: In what way it could … 
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