Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. Mindreading
     … This is why the breath is such an important part of the meditation. The problem is that when things settle down, sometimes they settle down too much, and you start getting dull. That’s when you should start working more actively with the breath in the body. Or you can think about the parts of the body as well. One effective meditation is to … 
  3. Healthy Conceit
     … How does it start surveying around to see where else the mind might want to go? When the mind starts getting bored with the breath, when it starts getting impatient, what are the warning signs? And once you see the warning signs, what can you do to make sure you stay with the breath: Make the breath deeper, make the breath more interesting, make … 
  4. A Post for the Heart
     … With something as simple as the breath: When people ask what we meditate on here, we say the breath, and nobody asks, “What is that?” And yet, as you get to know it, you begin to realize there’s a lot going on in the breath that you may not have expected. So you’ve got to learn how to be okay with that … 
  5. For When the World Can’t Help You
     … Stay with the breath coming in, the breath going out, because that’s your anchor in the present moment. As long as you’re with the breath, you know you’re in the present moment. If you lose the breath, it’s easy to wander off to the past, wander off to the future. But there’s no future breath you could watch, no … 
  6. Practice All Day
     … If you found that just being with the knowing was not solid enough, you’d go back to the breath, to maintain a sense of the breath energy in the body and be aware of that as your foundation, as your anchor. But it basically was a matter of staying with the knowing, right here in the present moment, with the breath as anchor … 
  7. Mud Houses
     … There’s your perception of the breath, the image you have of it that allows the breath to flow through the body and can direct the flow in the different ways you want it to go. There are your thought fabrications, starting with directed thought and evaluation: adjusting the breath and figuring out how best to use the pleasure that comes when the breath … 
  8. 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 … 
  9. Bodywork for the Mind
     … Try the breath. See what kind of breathing gets you interested, what kind of breathing feels good for the body, feels good for the mind. If the breath doesn’t feel all that satisfying, ask yourself what kind of breathing would feel satisfying. If you don’t like the breath coming in and out of the nose, you can try the breath energy coming … 
  10. 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 … 
  11. 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 … 
  12. 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 … 
  13. 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 … 
  14. 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 … 
  15. 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 … 
  16. 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 … 
  17. 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 … 
  18. 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 … 
  19. 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 … 
  20. 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 … 
  21. 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 … 
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