Thanissaro Bhikkhu on Refreshing Breathing

"Someone asked me the other day what I found interesting in the breath. And I said, “There’s just so much to explore in the area of how your awareness relates to this physical body here. How is it that it can move the body? Why is it that your perceptions change the way you sense the body? How does this all work?” If you’re interested in these questions — and how can you not be interested? — the breath is the ideal interface for watching the relationship between body and mind. When you can explore things in these terms, you’ve won half the battle right there, because then the house won’t be just a nice place where you rest before you go looking for entertainment outside. You find there’s a lot of entertainment in the house — educational entertainment — because it’s not just a house of lumber and shingles. It’s a home of your awareness in this body." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Sport of Wise People" (Meditations8)

"Try to content yourself with the breath right now. After all, it is a path, a path that leads somewhere good, and it doesn’t save all of its goodness for the end of the path. If you’re willing to watch the breath, get to know it, play with it a bit, try to see what kind of breathing feels good, it gives you an anchor in the present moment so that the mind isn’t running out after all kinds of things. It’s got a basic sense of well-being right here. In the beginning, the well-being may not be all that impressive, but it’s like a plant. You don’t get upset at a seed because it doesn’t give you fruit right away. You realize the seed is going to take time, so you water it, you care for it, and the seed will grow. So talk to your mind to make it contented with what it’s doing right now. This principle of contentment is very important." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Customs of the Noble Ones"

"Breath instructions often begin by saying, “Watch the breath.” But that can create some problems. Tell yourself, “Don’t watch the breath. Feel it. Wear it. Bathe yourself in it.” After all, you’re dealing with proprioception, the body as you feel it from within, and the breath is not in front of your eyes. If anything, it’s behind them. So back into the breath. See what that perception does." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Brahmaviharas at the Breath"

"In addition to the worlds we intentionally carry around, there are also lots of unintentional ones that come blowing through our minds. Those come because of the force of our old actions. As those storms come blowing through, sometimes the best thing you can do is simply hold onto the breath. Just as you would batten down for a storm, you just lie low and try to hold tight to the breath for dear life as the winds blow through. You hang onto the breath as tenaciously as you can. Even though it doesn’t fill your awareness, it at least gives you a corner where you’re still in the context of the present moment." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Worlds" (Meditations2)

"There’s so much negativity in the world as it is. Learn to focus on the positive. What’s already getting satisfied, say with the breath, as you breathe in, breathe out? And what potentials do you have for satisfying other parts of the body? Look at this as an opportunity. You don’t have a deadline. You don’t have crazy people telling you what to do. You’re away from human society. The ajaans will often tell their meditators: Tell yourself you’re the only person sitting here in the sala. Even though there are other people around you, you don’t have to worry about them. It’s as if they weren’t there. So if you’d like your awareness to spread out and just to fill the whole sala and say “I can take this whole sala as mine,” that’s perfectly fine. It gives you a little more space, and you’ve got the sense of the body surrounded by space." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Full Attention"

"When Ajaan Lee talks about the different kinds of breathing, the fascinating part about his instructions are the points he makes about dealing with the breath energies in the different parts of the body, which often causes us to overlook the fact that he spends a long time talking about how the breathing can be long in, long out; short in, short out, but there’s also long in, short out; and short in, long out. So learn how to become a connoisseur of the length of your breathing, or a connoisseur of its depth. Take some time. Here we’ve got a whole hour. And there’s the part of the mind that says, “Well, let’s get through the whole hour and then we’ll go on to something else.” Don’t listen to that part of the mind. Say, “Let’s inhabit this hour. Let’s inhabit this moment,” and allow our awareness to settle back into the body and get a sense of what’s the right amount of pressure, the right amount of space to give to these sensations, allowing yourself to savor them. The more you

"You could focus on the breath. What way is the breath light, totally unstuck, totally unfettered? It has nothing to do with heat or coolness at all. It’s simply motion. Energy. Your mind tunes into that kind of sensation. You may find that you can start smiling, and then the smile on your face induces all the chemical reactions in the body that go along with smiling. You start feeling better. So try to induce feelings that are helpful." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Reality of Emotions" (Meditations5)

"If you’re sitting here, and the breath feels really good coming in, really good going out, all kinds of other things can happen in the world and you don’t feel affected. You feel a sense of well-being that comes from within that’s not touched by those things. As Ajaan Lee says, they can come and curse your mother, and it doesn’t really affect you. You don’t get angry. It’s as if the mind is well fed. If you’re hungry and tired, people can say even the slightest thing that’s critical, and you lash out. But if you’re feeling well fed and in a good mood, you can take the criticism and actually laugh along with them, actually agree with them: “Yeah, that’s right.” Then maybe you can do something about what you’ve been doing wrong. This is why it’s good to have the breath as an ally. When feelings of greed or anger come welling up from the mind, instead of feeling that restraint bottles them in, you can think of allowing whatever pressure you feel in the body as a result

"I went through a period once when I found it very difficult to breathe. At the end of the meditation, everything in the body seemed to be clamped down. Ajaan Fuang was far away. It was a month or so before I saw him. So I mentioned this to him when I finally met him. He said, “You’re focused on the earth element; focus instead on space.” That solved the problem right there. So sometimes our problems are due to things we don’t really know we’re doing. I was holding the perception of earth someplace in my head, and that was getting imposed on the body. And thinking of the body as really solid, it seemed impossible to squeeze the breath into that lump of solidity. So you can think of the space in the atoms or between the atoms. Or you can think that your experience of the body is primarily energy. You look at the body in the mirror and what you see is solid. You hit it against things and it’s solid. But how you feel it from inside: That’s energy. So don’t use your perception of “so

"Here in the West, we don’t talk about breath going through the body, whereas in Asia they do. But it’s a possible sensation that you can activate. So as you breathe in, try to breathe in a way that’s comfortable. Don’t squeeze the breath in. Don’t breathe in so long that it becomes uncomfortable. Instead, try to figure out what way you can keep the body relaxed and breathe in longer than you might normally do. As for breathing out, you don’t have to do anything. The breath will go out on its own, until it reaches a point where you feel you need a new breath. Well, let it come in. Think of the breath as existing in the context of the body as a whole: everything from the tips of the fingers on up the arms, the tips of the toes on up the legs, up the torso, and into the head. There’s a potential for breath everywhere. See if you can allow yourself to imagine that potential." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Mindful of Your Potentials"

"When we’re working with the breath, sometimes we feel we want to make it really comfortable and full of rapture and all these wonderful things, and for some reason it’s just okay. We drive ourselves crazy trying to make it really good. But you have to remember: Okay is okay. You’re looking for a spot where you can settle down." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Pain is a Noble Truth"

"So ask yourself: What really feels good when you’re breathing right now? If you can’t figure out what really feels good, hold your breath for a while until the mind comes to the point where it’s screaming at you: “Breathe! You’ve got to breathe!” Then, when you breathe, notice what feels really good as you breathe in. Take that as a guide." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Start Out Small" (Meditations2)

"Learn to open your mind to other ways of conceiving and perceiving the breath. Ajaan Lee talks about the breath coming in and out of the back of the skull, in and out the middle of the chest, lots of different spots in the body. Allow yourself to conceive the breath in that way and see what happens to your experience of breathing as you do that. Then you find that it expands your sense of the energy in the body and your repertoire of what you can do with the energy — because you find, when there are aches and pains in the body, that conceiving of the breath in a particular way will help. Sometimes you can think of the breath coming in and out of the body right there at the ache and the pain, so that you don’t have to create extra tensions trying to pull it in or push it out. It’s right there readily available, anywhere you want it." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Power to Transcend Suffering"

"You’ll notice that there are subtle sensations in the body as you breathe in, as you breathe out, that correspond to the grosser sensations of the movement of the rib cage, the movement of the diaphragm. Allow those subtle sensations to blend together in a way that feels harmonious. Think of every part of the body being connected, all the energy channels in the body being connected, so that the breath energy spreads through them instantly and automatically, independently of the in-and-out breath, without your having to do anything to breathe it in or out. Here you’re using one of the aggregates, the aggregate of perception, to help calm the breath down. And you notice that it does also induce a sense of piti, which is usually translated as “rapture,” although in some cases it’s not quite as strong as what we would ordinarily call “rapture.” It’s more a sense of refreshment. The body feels full, satisfied." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "On the Path of the Breath&qu

"If you’re sitting here, and the breath feels really good coming in, really good going out, all kinds of other things can happen in the world and you don’t feel affected. You feel a sense of well-being that comes from within that’s not touched by those things. As Ajaan Lee says, they can come and curse your mother, and it doesn’t really affect you. You don’t get angry. It’s as if the mind is well fed. If you’re hungry and tired, people can say even the slightest thing that’s critical, and you lash out. But if you’re feeling well fed and in a good mood, you can take the criticism and actually laugh along with them, actually agree with them: “Yeah, that’s right.” Then maybe you can do something about what you’ve been doing wrong. This is why it’s good to have the breath as an ally. When feelings of greed or anger come welling up from the mind, instead of feeling that restraint bottles them in, you can think of allowing whatever pressure you feel in the body as a result

"When anger comes, when fear comes, when you’re lying awake at night and can’t get to sleep, you can focus on the breath. It’s like having something to play with, or a friend to talk to at any time at all. And as with any friend, when you don’t know the friend very well, you just sit there and you have no idea what to say. The friend doesn’t know what to say. But after a while, you start asking questions, and the other person starts answering. If you don’t ask the questions, there are no answers. So you can ask questions about the breath. What kind of breathing would be good for your lungs? What kind of breathing would be good for your intestines? How about the tension in your shoulders or a pain in your back: What kind of breathing is good for that? As you get to know the breath, you realize it’s not just air coming in and out of the lungs. It’s the whole flow of energy in the body. For the most part, we ignore it, and then we miss out on the benefits that can come f

"This is another way the breath can be your friend. It’s like having a friend who reminds you when you get angry that it’s not in your best interest to be angry. It can soothe you when you’re angry, put you in a better mood. It can be your friend when you’re sick; it can be your friend when you’re suffering from fear or any other strong, unpleasant emotion." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Befriending the Breath" (Meditations4)

"Ask yourself if you’re being too demanding. Does the breath feel okay? Are you trying to force it to be better than okay? If that’s what’s happening, be patient. Stick with the okay breath and give it some time. Your impatience may be putting too much strain on it. Allow it some time to relax and develop on its own." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "With Each & Every Breath: A Guide to Meditation"

"So allow the breath to be in a state of normalcy. Think back to when you’ve been in a good mood: nothing really exciting, but just a basic okay sense of well-being. What was your breath like then? What was the visceral feel of that mood? You can try to tune back into that feeling; it’s there. Tune back in to the way the breath felt at that point and allow it to have that same sense of ease. Then notice where the other areas of ease are, here and there in the body, that you tend to overlook. Where are they? Can you connect them to the sense of ease you’ve developed around the breathing? Try to keep them connected, both in space and in time. In other words, allow the different parts of the body that feel at ease to connect right here in the present moment and then maintain that sense of connected well-being, based on the breath, as continuously as you can. At first it may not seem like anything special. But if you allow it to stay connected, if you don’t interfere with it and don’t

"For the time being, put aside any preconceived notions you may have about where the breath comes in and where it goes out. Just notice how it actually feels — because breathing is not just air coming in and out of the lungs; it's the whole process, the whole energy flow by which the body brings the air in and expels it. And that's not just a matter of the nose and lungs. The entire nervous system can be involved. Different parts of the body expand and contract to bring in the air. That's all counted as part of the breathing process. So wherever you're most aware of the breathing process, focus your attention there. Try to make that spot comfortable." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Basics" (Meditations2)

 " Ardency: The breath is one of the few processes in the body over which you can exert conscious control. An important part of breath meditation is learning how to make skillful use of this fact. You can learn which ways of breathing foster pleasant sensations in the body, and which ones foster unpleasant ones. You learn a sense of time and place: when and how to change the breath to make it more comfortable, and when to leave it alone. As you develop this knowledge, you can use it as an aid in developing skillful qualities of mind. This sort of knowledge comes from experimenting with the breath and learning to observe the effects of different kinds of breathing on the body and mind. You can call this sort of experimentation working with the breath, for you’ve got an ardent purpose: the training of the mind. But you can also call it playing with the breath, for it requires that you use your imagination and ingenuity in thinking of different ways to breathe and to picture the b

"One perception I’ve found useful is one that Ajaan Fuang recommended. He said, there is a line of breath energy running down the middle of your body. When the breath comes in, it comes in to nourish that line, and when it goes out, it goes out of that line. So it’s not like you try to pull the breath in just through the nostrils. The breath is coming in from every direction, to fill up that line in the middle. Then you want to make sure the line doesn’t get squeezed out even as you breathe out. Keep it full, so that whatever breath energy is helpful stays in the body, and only those breath energies that seem excessive or unpleasant at the moment can go. Another useful perception is of the body as a big sponge, with all the holes in the sponge connected, so that when you breathe in one part of the body, it can connect with every other part of the body. Or you can find whatever other perceptions help to keep the breath as calm, to keep that sense of ease in the body as calm as poss

"Have good will [mettā] toward your breathing, compassion, appreciation, equanimity towards your breathing. In other words, allow the breath to be comfortable so that you can have a foundation. Where it’s not comfortable, work at making it more comfortable: That’s compassion. Where it is comfortable, appreciate it. Sometimes, especially in the very beginning, the states of comfort seem to be very minor and not impressive at all. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have the potential to be more impressive. You’ve got to give them a little space. It’s like oak trees. They start out as tiny little acorns. Or even better, think of coastal redwoods. They start as the tiniest little seeds, and yet the tallest trees on earth come from these tiny, tiny seeds. Develop the conditions, allow them to grow and they become a huge forest. It’s the same with a sense of well-being in the body. First find areas that are simply not in pain, that seem okay. That’s good enough. Just be very careful to ke

"As soon as that refreshing breath sensation begins to fill up in the body, you let go of everything else. No matter what other disturbances come, you’re not the least bit interested because you’ve got something really satisfying. You could almost say that it’s a sensation to die for. You let down your guard, let go of everything else, because this sensation is so totally absorbing. You’ve opened up every part of the body, every part of your awareness for this sensation to come in." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Tuning-in to the Breath" (Meditations1)

"Simply by sitting here breathing — the breath coming in, going out comfortably — you don’t require any sensual pleasures at all to make you happy. That’s what you learn when you meditate: You’ve got the resources inside that allow you to breathe in a way that feels really satisfying, and it’s all for free. It has nothing to do with sensual desires at all. That’s what renunciation means." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Five Precepts, Five Virtues"

"Even the simple stress and tension in breathing: When you begin to see that that’s not necessary, you can start asking yourself, “Well, maybe there are other things going on in the present moment that are not necessary as well.” It is possible to breathe in such a way that you feel really full all the time, with a sense of refreshment. Each breath feels really refreshing coming in because you’ve paid careful attention. And all that tense breathing you did in the past, it really wasn’t necessary. You did it because you weren’t paying careful attention. Now you give some attention to the breath and you begin to see its other possibilities, its other potentials." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Building on Certainty"

"So take some time to get to know the breath and see to what extent you can make it better, more soothing, more relaxing, more energizing — whatever you need right now. This is your territory, so settle in. Don’t let anybody else push you out. Of course, other people aren’t the ones trying to push you out. Your own defilements push you to go running out after things. But the more you feel at home right here, then the less likely you’re going to be pushed around, the less likely you’re going to run away." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Mindfulness, Discernment, & Peace of Mind"