There are times when you have to breathe in a uncomfortable way to get out of a breath cycle that’s too gentle or too stifled. This means you’ve got to use your ingenuity.

"We talk about listening or looking at the breath, but, of course, it’s not a matter of looking or listening with the eyes or ears. It’s a matter of being really sensitive to what the body needs. Now, you do want to be very careful, and this is where the analogy of listening comes in. Think of it as an analogy, of course. There are times when you listen very, very carefully for very subtle sounds and that helps to refine the breathing, because the mind is more intent and more sensitive at that time. That’s when it’s really ready for refined breathing. But if you’re not ready for it, you just drop off to sleep. So in the same way that you would, say, listen to the inner voices of a piece of music, the ones that are hard to hear, or to a very soft sound off in the distance, try to make yourself really, really quiet, and very, very intent. That will help make the breath more subtle without your forcing the breath too much.

But listen to the body and the mind: If you run up against the symptoms that show that the breathing is too subtle, then you’ve got to go in the other direction. Some of the symptoms are headaches, a sense of constriction in the body, that the breath energy’s been closed off. That’s when you have to work with breathing that may be a little bit uncomfortable for a while. Push it, expand the rib cage more than normal. Expand your stomach, the abdomen, more than normal. Really emphasize the in-breath as much as possible. And put up with the fact that it’s going to be uncomfortable for a while, as you get yourself into a new cycle, or a new rhythm of breathing. Then, when the body’s ready, you can let things calm down again.

What all this comes down to is, as you’re experimenting with the breath, remember not to let your preconceived notions get in the way. Even the instructions of the breath meditation saying, “Breathe in a way that’s as comfortable as possible”: There are times when you have to breathe in a uncomfortable way to get out of a breath cycle that’s too gentle or too stifled. This means you’ve got to use your ingenuity."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Sensitive to the Breath"

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