If you're consistent and smooth in your awareness of the breath then the breath becomes smooth and comfortable

"We’re trying to sensitize ourselves to an area of our awareness [the feeling of breathing] that all too often we ignore. We spend most of our time paying attention outside, and this area inside here gets squeezed out, left behind. Its potentials for giving us a sense of well-being don’t get developed. So here’s our chance to give it some time, give it some space. If you really pay attention here, if you’re consistent in your awareness of the breath, smooth in your awareness of the breath, then the breath becomes smooth as well. It becomes more and more comfortable. And what starts out as just an ordinary feeling of being okay becomes more intensely pleasant. You can let that feeling spread throughout the body...."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Pleasure of the Middle Way"

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