The sense of inhabiting the body provides you with a good solid place to stand.

"So when you’re working with the breath, say, you have a strong sense that you are inhabiting your body, and this is your space. You get to use the breath as medicine for what may come up in the body: times when you’re hungry, times when you’re tired, times when you’re feeling flustered about things around you.

In order to let go, you also need a good solid place to stand. This is what the sense of inhabiting the body provides you with. In fact, ideally, as you’re getting into concentration, you want to have a sense that the body, the mind, and the breath are all one. The breath fills the body; the mind fills the body; the mind is one with the breath. They’re all sitting here together."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Holding on Strategically"

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