You want the sense of energy to suffuse the body along with the sense of pleasure. Then, when everything feels nicely energized by the breath, the breath energy in the body feels full, you can allow the breath to calm down.

"So notice, when you breathe long right now, is it pleasant? If it’s not, you can change. Make it shorter or in long, out short; in short, out long. From there you can extrapolate — heavy, light, fast, slow, deep, shallow. Then as the body gets energized by the breath, you want to spread your awareness to fill the whole body, because you want that sense of energy to suffuse the body along with this sense of pleasure. Then, when everything feels nicely energized by the breath, the breath energy in the body feels full, you can allow the breath to calm down."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Psychology of Harmlessness"

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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

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.

The pleasure we're working toward when we're meditating is a noble, worthwhile pleasure