Focusing on the breath when you can't sleep is like having something to play with, or a friend to talk to at any time at all.

"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 from paying attention to these things. So take a while to sensitize yourself to this. In the beginning, it seems like nothing is happening, and it’s very easy to get bored. But again, ask questions."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Take an Interest"

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