Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. The Rivers of Karma
     … The intention here is to stay with the breath, to try to be fully aware of the breath element in the body, throughout the whole body. You want to maintain that intention in the face of all the other intentions that are going to come up in the course of the hour. It’s to be expected. Vagrant thoughts will come into the mind … 
  3. The Governing Principle
     … When we were trying to find a good translation for “mindfulness of breathing” in French, a French Buddhologist objected to the rendering that corresponded to “keeping the breath in mind” on the grounds that “To say that you could keep something in mind is to say that things could actually last, that you could actually conserve them and keep them going, whereas everything arises … 
  4. Beneficial Thinking
     … When you’re thinking about issues surrounding the breath and about the way the breath relates to the mind, the way the mind relates to the breath, and the way the breath and the mind relate to the body, then you’ve got your mind secluded from all kinds of unskillful things. You’re not getting involved. The potential for those unskillful thoughts is … 
  5. Reflect on Your Actions
     … You’re sitting, focused on the breath. Is it going well? Are you actually with the breath? If not, what can you change? You can change either the breath or the way you’re focused. In other words, the changes can be either in the body or in the mind. What are your range of options? Some of these you’ve learned from the … 
  6. Contentment vs. Initiative
     … You keep asking yourself, “Is this as comfortable as I can make the mind right now staying here with the breath? Or can I breathe in a different way? Can I focus in a different way? Can I think about the breath energy in a different way? Would that make it better?” For instance, with the breath energy: If you feel that you’re … 
  7. Effort against the Hindrances
     … You replace it with something skillful, in other words, you just bring it back to the breath. And try to make the breath more comfortable than it was before. Get yourself interested in the breath again. Because that kind of thought can be cured simply by giving yourself something new to think about. It’s simply caused by a lack of mindfulness. Your mindfulness … 
  8. Fully Here
     … Starting right here, right now, you want to give all your attention to the breath, remembering that the breath is not just the air coming in and out of the lungs, but it’s the flow of energy in the body. If you look carefully, you’ll notice that the energy flow has many levels of subtlety and can be felt anywhere on the … 
  9. The Science of Meditation
     … You stay with the breath, which is an aspect of the body. Then if you’re having trouble staying with the breath, you look at what other issues might be involved. Is there something wrong with the feeling that you’re creating with the breath? Can you change that feeling? The Buddha recommends breathing in a way that gives rise to rapture or pleasure … 
  10. The Wisdom of Ardency
     … Like right now, you’re focused on the breath. You’re alert to what the breath is doing, and you’re also alert to what the mind is doing as it tries to stay focused on the breath. The ardency here is to keep at this. If you find yourself wandering off, you come right back to the breath. Mindful means keeping something in … 
  11. Inner Wealth
     … We’re not under a tree right now, but we are sitting here breathing, focusing on the breath, realizing that the breath has a huge role in contributing to our well-being. Of course, if we didn’t breathe, we’d be dead. But more than that, the way you breathe can have an effect on the health of the body and the health … 
  12. Old Movies & New
    One of the best ways to get the mind to stay with the breath is to realize that there’s a lot going on here when you breathe. It’s not just in and out. The energy flow of the whole body is involved. For most of us, it’s terra incognita, a place we don’t know, unexplored jungle. But then as you … 
  13. Focused on Your Duties
     … This is one of the reasons why we work with the breath. Think of the breath energies in the body. How are they flowing right now? You start with the in-and-out breathing, which is easy to see. Then you ask yourself, when you breathe in, how far does the energy go? When you breathe out, how far does it go? Ideally, you … 
  14. Make Yourself Small
     … You’ve learned the right amount of pressure to bring to the breath, the right balance of stillness and questioning to bring to the breath to keep the mind with its one spot in the present moment. Then you can start expanding. You start expanding the breath throughout the body, exploring the different ways that the breath energy moves. And start exploring the other … 
  15. Strategies for Generosity
     … This is why we work with the breath, because the way the mind relates to the body goes through the breath. When mental troubles cause illness, it’s basically the mind’s contact with the energy flow in the body that creates the illness. And the way we know the body is through the breath. So to create a good relationship inside, you work … 
  16. Choosing Freedom
     … You can think of the breath energy coming in. Ajaan Fuang would often talk about there being kind of a line running down through the body, from the middle of the head, down through the middle of the torso, and then down both legs. When the breath energy comes in, it comes into that line. So it’s not just coming into your lungs … 
  17. The Boundaries of Mindfulness
     … Make the breath your primary focus. Use the talk as a fence around your meditation so that when you wander away from the breath, you run into the fence, which reminds you to go back. Otherwise, while you’re with the breath, you don’t have to give the fence any thought at all. If there’s anything in the talk relevant to what … 
  18. A Rite of Passage
     … So you have to notice, “When I focus on the breath, what do I do? What changes happen in the breath? Can I focus in a way that doesn’t lead to those negative changes?” Sometimes the problem is with the breath on its own, and you can fix that. But sometimes the problem is how you’re focusing on the breath. So there … 
  19. Inconstancy
     … In the beginning, you have to talk to yourself, evaluate the breath to make sure that the breath feels good for the body, feels nourishing, that all the different breath energies are working together, and that they’re just right for the mind. The breath is not laborious, but at the same time not so subtle that you can’t follow it. When it … 
  20. It’s All about Action
     … If you’re with the breath, the breath itself is a kind of activity. Even though the body would breathe on its own, say, as when you’re asleep, the fact that you’re alert and watching it means you’re automatically going to start fiddling with the breath. So fiddle well. In other words, try to figure out: What way of breathing right … 
  21. False Friends
     … This is one of the reasons why, when we practice concentration, every thought that comes up that doesn’t have to do with the breath is considered not a friend, someone you don’t want to hang out with, someone you want to avoid. It may seem like suppression or denial, but it’s not. It’s learning a skill, to put you in … 
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