Thinking of the body as really solid, it seems impossible to squeeze the breath into that lump of solidity. So think of the space in the atoms or between the atoms. Or think of your experience of the body as primarily energy.

"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 “solid” to squeeze the energy around. Think of the energy as already there. It’s the first thing you know. It’s the closest thing to the mind itself."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Sensitive to the Breath"

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