Search results for: "The Breath"

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  2. The Joy of Curiosity
     … Here you can bring in the breath. Breathe in a way that dissolves whatever tension there may be in the body that’s related to that incident or related to that mood. Try to get as interested as you can in the breath. Try to figure it out. When you breathe in, where does the breath energy feel like it’s coming in? Does … 
  3. Ready for the Truth
     … focusing on the breath, trying to make the breath comfortable, putting the mind at ease with the breath, and seeing that this really is a good place to be. Then, the Buddha said, you would be ready for the four noble truths. So you can see what he’s doing: On the one hand, in many places the prerequisite for getting the mind to … 
  4. Choices
     … On the one hand, you keep track of something here in the present moment, like the breath. And you work with the breath. You don’t just watch whatever’s going to happen. You try to breathe in a comfortable way. You experiment with breathing in different ways. Find what feels comfortable. Try to be aware of the whole body. And then soothe the … 
  5. A Stranger to Your Thoughts
     … And you find that the breath is an ideal place to do this walking. Because you can use the breath as an object to settle down and be still with, and you can also use it as a grounding for your analysis. When a thought comes up, notice how it affects the breath. Or when you breathe in a certain way, notice what that … 
  6. The Truth of Perceptions
     … You’ve worked with the breath as it gets more and more refined, more and more subtle, to the point where the breath energy fills the body. All the breath channels in the body are connected, and the breath can grow still. Then he would have you think about fire, the warmth in the body. Where do you feel the warmth in the body … 
  7. A Positive-Sum Game
     … So just keep coming back to the breath. See how long you can maintain this intention. And make the breath comfortable. There’s no need to sit here with an uncomfortable breath. No one’s forcing you to breathe in an uncomfortable way, so explore to see what kind of breathing feels good. It might be longer or shorter, deeper, more shallow, heavier or … 
  8. Mindfulness over Time
     … You stay with the breath, stay with the breath, and then you ask yourself: Are you really staying with the breath? What’s going on? This ability to know things over time, to keep something in mind, to send a message to the future and then to watch over the mind as it’s doing that helps in all levels of the practice—as … 
  9. Healing Your Energy
     … As the breath energy comes in, it comes in through the nose but also through other spots in the body. It can flow down the nerves in a way that feels relaxing. Or if you’re feeling too tired and you want a little more energy, you can think of the breath energy coming up. You find, as you get more sensitive, that you … 
  10. Cooking the Present Moment
     … We’re talking to ourselves about the breath, perceiving the breath, getting a sense of pleasure and ease from the breath. When you focus on this level, you’re focusing on where your freedom of choice is most useful, most effective. So keep your attention here. It makes a difference.
  11. Mistakes
    Focus your attention on the breath and look after it: both the breath and your attention. Looking after the breath means noticing where you feel it, how it feels when it comes in, how it feels when it goes out, and checking to see if you can figure out what kind of breathing feels good, what kind of breathing is best for the body … 
  12. Taking Apart Suffering
     … In that case, use the breath to whatever extent you can to work through that pain, focusing on whichever parts of the body you can make comfortable through the rhythm of the breathing. Whether the breath is fast or slow, heavy or light, deep or shallow, you learn to adjust it so that it can help alleviate whatever pain there is in that part … 
  13. A Doctor’s Strategies
     … For instance, with the breath: You want the mind to stay with the breath so that it can settle down. You’re not here to get the breath. You’re here to get the mind. So you want the breath to be comfortable. Now, some people say that when you’re making the breath comfortable, you’re giving in to your defilements, your desires … 
  14. A Path Rooted in Desire
    Make up your mind you’re going to stay with the breath—all the way in, all the way out, each breath as it comes in, as it goes out. Notice when you breathe in: Where do you feel it in the body? When the Buddha talks about breath, he’s not talking about the tactile sensation of the air at the nose. He … 
  15. Truth in Action
     … Make up your mind you’re going to stay right here with the breath and then you have to keep watch over yourself. Which means that alertness, the quality that we bring to the present moment, has to cover two things: One, you’re alert to the breath; and two, you’re alert to the mind. Mindfulness is what reminds you to stay here … 
  16. Do, Maintain, Use
     … But focus your primary attention on the comfort of the breath and keep the perception of breath in mind. Otherwise, you go slipping off into just the comfort, and things begin to blur out. When you’ve got your awareness filling the body, you’ve got the breath filling the body, and it feels good, then you can stop evaluating the breath and just … 
  17. A Path of Aggregates
     … When you’re sitting here with the breath, the breath, of course, is form, and your sense of the body as you’re sitting here is form as well. Then there are the feelings you feel in the body: You want to get them to be feelings of pleasure. This is one of the skills of meditation, learning how to relate to the body … 
  18. The Water in Your Cup
     … So we’ve got to learn to pour it out and just stay with the sensation of the breath and simple sensations in the present moment. See how much you can pare down your conversation around that. As the breath gets more and more comfortable, it’s easier to pare things down. So focus on that. Make that your purpose in being here right … 
  19. Three Noble Truths Versus Four
     … You’ve got the breath here: That’s form. The feeling of pleasure that comes when you stay with the breath is feeling. The mental image, the mental label that tells you, “This is where the breath is. This is how the breath flows. This is where you should be focused”: That’s perception. The directed thought and evaluation that adjust the breath to … 
  20. Physical Pains & Painful Words
    When you’re sitting here focused on the breath, even when you’re well concentrated on the breath, you don’t have just the breath. You’ve also got feelings, you’ve got the mind, and you’ve got mental qualities. All four frames of reference are right here. The question as to which one you’re going to pay attention to most depends … 
  21. Equanimity & Karma
     … You have to learn, instead, to let the ease do its work, whereas you continue doing your work with the breath, i.e., you focus on the breath; stay steadily with the breath, and then let the ease do its soothing in the body. You focus on the causes; the effects will take care of themselves. In this way, you learn how not to … 
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