Play with the breath to help inhabit the body more and more comfortably as a good place to stay

"You give yourself a nice, comfortable place to stay. If you’re going to be sitting here for an hour, nobody’s going to know if you’re playing with the breath, right? I mean, I don’t know how many people have asked me, “Can I really do that? Am I allowed to do that?” Of course you’re allowed to do that. And even if you weren’t, how could anyone enforce that prohibition? As you’re sensitizing yourself to the body in this way, you find that you can create a place where it’s really good to stay. And you can stay there for long periods of time. That’s precisely what you’re trying to do in concentration practice: bringing the mind to a stable state. It’s not going to want to stay there if you’re beating it.

It’s like a child in a house: If you treat the child well, you can open the windows and doors, and the child’s not going to run away. If you close the windows and doors, and beat it, it’s going to find a crack, an opening, and it’s going to go and not come back. So you have this opportunity to get the mind on good terms with the breath, on good terms with the body.

And you learn that the breath has a lot of uses like this. When you’re ill, there are certain ways of breathing that help you overcome the illness. When you’re tense, when you’re tired, there are ways of breathing that help you overcome those issues. The breath is a resource that we all have, but it very rarely gets cultivated. We very rarely make full use of it.

So think of the length, the depth of the breath; whether it’s shallow, deep, light, heavy; how it goes down the back, down the front. Again, it’s not just the air coming out of the lungs, it’s the whole energy flow through the body. As you sensitize yourself to that, it helps you inhabit your body more and more comfortably, so that when you want to practice mindfulness in daily life, you’ve got a good place to stay. It’s easy to stay. It’s attractive."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Antidotes to Anger"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Breathe in a way that feels refreshing, soothing and comfortable to find a deep and lasting happiness

"So spend some time right here. Breathe in, breathe out, in a way that feels refreshing, that feels soothing, that feels comfortable — whatever the body needs right now, whatever the mind needs right now. Give it some good breathing. That way, you’ll be able to find the peace that comes when you’re not constantly being pulled into paying attention outside. And from that peace comes a deep and lasting happiness." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Paying Attention Inside"
Read more

You can handle fear by fortifying your inner adult with breath knowledge

"One of the most powerful elements of fear is your unwillingness to think of what you can do. You don’t even want to think of the situation. But if you actually sit down and think about it patiently, step by step, you realize you can handle it. You might have to muddle through, and things might get difficult, but you can handle it. And as you’re thinking this, it’s helpful to have the breath coming in, going out really comfortably. So learn how to use the breath, reclaim your breath. Get in touch with your inner adult and fortify the inner adult with what you now know about the breathing. That’ll change the balance of power in the mind." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Nurturing Your Inner Adult" (Meditations7)
Read more

There’s a kind of gentle massage that goes through the body as you breathe, and then there’s a quicker movement of breath energy that goes through the body immediately. As soon as you start breathing in, it’s already gone through the whole body. Then there’s the breath energy that’s very still.

"For the time being, focus on the breath, because, of the different properties of the body, it’s the one closest to your awareness. It’s what keeps the body and mind together. It’s your glue. And it can be a very subtle glue because there are many levels of the breath. There’s the obvious breath coming in and out, and then there are subtler breath energies that move through the body at different speeds. There’s a kind of gentle massage that goes through the body as you breathe in, breathe out, and then there’s a quicker movement of breath energy that goes through the body immediately. As soon as you start breathing in, it’s already gone through the whole body. Then there’s the breath energy that’s very still. You can contact it at different spots in the body. Ajaan Lee talks of contacting it at the diaphragm. Other people find other spots where there’s a sense of stillness in the midst of the movement of the in-and-out breath. So try to bring all of your thoughts and awareness her...
Read more