Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. Don’t Leak Out Your Ears & Eyes
    We sit here with our eyes closed, trying to gather our attention inside to be with the breath, thinking of the breath as a whole-body process: the energy flowing through the nerves and the muscles that allows the air to come in, the air to go out—the oxygen exchange that helps keep us alive. And this can be very nourishing. The trick … 
  3. Battling Darkness
     … Start out by staying with the breath — and just keep reminding yourself not to get entangled in any other issues right now. If other issues do come up, fend them off just to the extent you need in order to create a space so you can get back to the breath, to a sense of ease, a sense of wellbeing with the breath, so … 
  4. At Play
     … Play with the breath. You read Ajaan Lee’s instructions on how to play with the breath and you can follow them, but then you can also do them backwards. Where he says to have the breath go down, you can think of it going up, or vice versa. Or you can simply ask yourself, “What would be a fun way to breathe right … 
  5. Cut, Cut, Cut
     … And you’ll find out that there are layers to the breath and there are layers to the awareness. As the Buddha said, you notice when there’s an element of fabrication, as he calls it, which is the element you add through your intentions to create a specific experience out of, say, the simple fact that you’re sitting here watching the breath … 
  6. A Poker Mind
    A Poker Mind May 29, 2017 When you settle down with the breath, you’re trying to bring three things together: your sense of the body, the feeling of pleasure, and your awareness. Those are the first three frames of reference that the Buddha talks about in establishing mindfulness. The fourth frame of reference, dhammas, is basically lists of qualities and other things to … 
  7. Training Your Moods
     … In this case, as you’re sitting here with your eyes closed, focused on the breath, you’re trying to breathe in a way that feels good. You’re trying to notice which parts of the body are sensitive to how the breathing feels. A lot of people like to focus on the nose, but that’s not a very sensitive part of the … 
  8. Self-Hatred
     … Keep the mind continually with the breath. Try to catch it at any time it’s going to wander off. This is why we have one object to focus on. If you find one object not enough, give yourself two objects in the present moment. You can focus on the breath in two different parts of the body at the same time. That pretty … 
  9. Question Your Perceptions
     … What ways of perceiving the breath have a good impact on the breath and a good impact on the mind? You want to test them. Ajaan Lee’s explorations of the breath energies in the body are very helpful. He approaches them in many different ways. First there’s the description in Method Two, which talks about the breath energies doing certain things. But … 
  10. Seclusion Through Mindfulness
     … In other words, you try to get the mind centered here on the breath, and then you observe the mind as you’re trying to get it centered here. You’re observing feelings, you’re observing mental qualities in relation to the act of focusing on the breath. The breath gives you a focal point. Or in Ajaan Thate’s image, you’ve got … 
  11. The Brahmavihāras Aren’t Enough
     … As Ajaan Fuang said, the breath can take you all the way to nibbāna. Now, on its own, the breath can’t do that. But if you practice mindfulness of breathing in the way the Buddha recommends—developing the breath, analyzing the breath—it can. So try to recognize which practices are complete and which ones are not complete. As for the ones that … 
  12. The Self-correcting Mind
     … For instance, right now when you’re with the breath, you’ve got the body in the actual sensation of the breath. And then there are the feelings of pleasure or pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain that come from the way you deal with the breath. Then there are the various mind states that are either with the breath or wandering away. Whatever … 
  13. Strength from the Basics
     … You train the mind to focus just on one thing, the breath. How many thousands and thousands of people have been focusing on the breath? Millions of people have been focusing on the breath over the past centuries, and you’re willing to follow their example. This is where the Sangha comes in as another example. This is for people who are willing to … 
  14. Honest & Observant
     … You keep your object in mind, like the breath, and you’re alert to see how the breath is going and whether the mind is sticking with the breath or not. If there are any problems with the breath, you adjust them. You make the breath a good place to be. This is one of the functions of ardency. The other function focuses on … 
  15. Calm & at Ease
     … The Buddha says there are times when you’re trying to focus on the breath but it feels like there’s a fever in the breath; you focus on feelings, there’s a fever in your feelings; you focus on the mind, there’s a fever in the mind. Okay, you drop those topics and think about the Buddha, the Dhamma, or the Sangha … 
  16. Protection
     … Keep in mind the fact that you want to stay with the breath. And you’re alert to both the mind and the breath. What’s the mind doing right now? Is it staying with the breath? If it’s not, bring it back. If it is, try to make it as sensitive as possible to how the breathing feels. This is a quality … 
  17. Always Looking Inside
     … And where do they happen? They happen right here where the body in the mind meet at the breath. So focus your attention right here. See what moves here. A lot of the movement, of course, has to be physical: the breath coming in, going out, other things happening in the body. But as the breath grows more and more still, you begin to … 
  18. Mindfulness the Seamstress
     … You want to develop that aspect of your awareness and then bring it to the breath meditation, so that you can see the processes of fabrication going on in the breath and in the mind, and sort out which ones are skillful and which ones are not. How are you going to know what’s skillful? You look at the results. Part of this … 
  19. Unchanged by Loss
     … So, look for that “something inside.” It’s going to be very close to the breath, which is one of the reasons why you work with the breath as much as you can. Or, if you have trouble working with the breath, try to develop qualities of mind through other meditation topics that will give you some of that solidity. Think of all the … 
  20. The Intelligent Heart
     … The meditation we’re doing here—getting the mind to settle down, being at ease with the breath, finding a sense of well-being inside: That’s the food that keeps us going on the path. We find that simply by focusing on the breath in a way that’s comfortable allows the mind to settle down and feel at home in the present … 
  21. Potentials
    Potentials August 27, 2020 Direct your thoughts to the breath and evaluate it. You’ll notice when you’re evaluating it that you’re not simply saying that this is the way it is, passing judgment and leaving it there. You’re also evaluating what can be done with it. If it’s not comfortable, what can you do to make it comfortable? How … 
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