Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. Obstacles to Full-body Awareness
     … There’s one perception that’s very common, which is that the parts that are tense or tight or painful tend to be the parts that you use a lot to bring the breath in because of your subconscious thoughts about what needs to be tightened up for the breath to come in, or about where it gets pulled in. See if you can … 
  3. The Prison Break
     … We’re here to get the breath good enough so that the mind will be willing to settle down in the body. If you don’t adjust things with the breath, the body’s not a very comfortable place to stay. It has its aches and pains here and there. But, as you breathe comfortably, breathe around the pains, breathe through them, allow the … 
  4. Noble Treasures
     … So, for the next hour, try to convince yourself that there’s only one thing you really have to do, which is to stay with the breath. Then work with the breath. Explore the breath energies in your body. Notice where you can feel the in-breath, where you feel the out-breath, and what you can do to breathe in a way that … 
  5. Radiating Goodness
     … That’s why we work on developing a sense of well-being with the breath, along with the qualities of mindfulness, alertness, concentration, discernment that go with staying with the breath; the ease and well-being that come when you get a sense of being at home with the breath, understanding the way the breath energy flows in the body and using the breath … 
  6. A Post for the Mind
    To be mindful of the body, you can focus on the breath. The Buddha compares it to a post for tying down the mind. In one case, he compares it to a post to which they tie an elephant. They’ve gotten the elephant out of the forest, out of the jungle, and they’re bringing him into the city to train him. And … 
  7. How Much Concentration Is Enough?
     … So as you’re here, trying to stay focused on the breath, the first thing you want to keep in mind is that everything you’re going to pay attention to for the next hour has to be related to the breath. If it’s not related to the breath, you don’t want it. That’s something you keep in mind. You’re … 
  8. The Heart of the Teachings
     … Focus on the breath and then notice how to breathe in a way that’s calming, breathe in a way that’s energizing, and see what you need right now. Try to be aware of the whole body as you breathe in, the whole body as you breathe out. And after you’ve been sufficiently energized by whole-body breathing, allow the breath to … 
  9. Varieties of Mindfulness
     … So try tuning in to the breath in and of itself. Be aware of the breath, making it your point of reference in relationship to everything you do while you’re sitting here quietly with your eyes closed. Even when you get up and walk away, try to stay tuned in to the breath. When you do work, stay with the breath; when you … 
  10. Pain Is a Noble Truth
     … Don’t let the pain form a wall to the breath energy. Remember, the breath energy is prior. Your sense of the body, your sense of what’s going on in the body, is always filtered through the breath. Yet sometimes we get things backwards. We think that if there’s a pain or if there’s a solid feeling of blockage someplace, the … 
  11. A Real Education
     … Either you’re going to stay with the breath or you’re going to wander off. So tell yourself to stay with the breath. If you have trouble staying with the breath, you might want to think first about good reasons to stay with the breath. Learn to talk to yourself. Give yourself pep-talks—encouraging yourself to see the importance of getting the … 
  12. What You Don’t Like About Yourself
     … As for the breath meditation instructions, they’re are all about learning how to breathe in such a way that you create a really good place to be here in the present moment: being sensitive to how the breath feels, being sensitive to the entire body as you breathe in and breathe out, trying to calm the effect of the breath on the body … 
  13. Skills to Take Home
     … how to focus on the mind, how to focus on the breath, how to allow the breath to be comfortable—not just the in-and-out breath, but the breath energy throughout the body. That’s an important skill right there. It gives you a link to what you’ve been doing here. These are skills that are useful not only when you’re … 
  14. Learning by Doing
     … You focus on the breath—that’s bodily fabrication, and it’s also part of form. It’s part of the wind element. You think about the breath—that’s verbal fabrication. And you hold perceptions in mind—that comes under both name and mental fabrication. You’re trying to create a feeling of well-being—that comes under both name and mental fabrication … 
  15. Flexibility
     … So there are lots of different levels in the meditation, lots of different ways of comprehending the breath, perceiving the breath. Ajaan Fuang would often talk of the different levels of concentration not in terms of this jhāna or that jhana, but he would say to focus on the breath and feel it this way, then think of the breath that way, then experience … 
  16. Treating the Diseases of the Mind
     … But you have to learn how to observe when you stay with the breath of a particular kind: Does it work? If you change the breath, does it work? If you figure out all the different ways you might be able to work with the breath and nothing seems to work, then there are other topics you can focus on: recollection of the Buddha … 
  17. Sending Happiness
     … How do you direct your thoughts to the breath? How do you evaluate the breath? Or if you find that the mind isn’t willing to settle down with the breath, what other things could you be thinking about right now that would be in line with the Dhamma? One of the monks who stayed with Ajaan Lee toward the end of his life … 
  18. Right Next to Ignorance
     … So what have we got? Right next to ignorance, you’ve got the breath—that’s bodily fabrication. You’ve got directed thought and evaluation—that’s verbal fabrication. And then you’ve got feelings and perceptions—mental fabrication. This is one of the reasons why we focus on the breath, thinking about the processes of how the breath is fabricated, and thinking about … 
  19. What Am I Becoming?
     … You’re trying to develop mindfulness, keeping the breath in mind; and alertness, watching the breath: What’s it doing right now? And how is your mind relating to the breath? You’re also developing ardency: You want to do this well because it’s the only path out. So is the breath comfortable? If it’s not comfortable, you can change it. Is … 
  20. Equanimity Isn’t Everything
     … focusing on the breath, adjusting the breath. There’s verbal fabrication in the directed thought and evaluation as you direct your thoughts to the breath and evaluate the breath. Bodily fabrication is the in-and-out breathing itself, because that’s the process that fabricates your sense of the body. It’s one of the few bodily processes that you can actually control. You … 
  21. Second Wind
     … You can play with the perceptions that are holding you here right now, to see which way of perceiving the breath is most helpful for staying here. You can perceive it as coming in from the outside, in which case you might want to think of it coming in and out through all the pores. Or you can perceive it as starting inside. You … 
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