You focus on the breath. Stay with it all the way in, all the way out, and notice what feels comfortable. Learn how to read the needs of your body, and see the extent to which you can fulfill those needs by the way you breathe.

"You focus on the breath. Stay with it all the way in, all the way out, and notice what feels comfortable. As the Buddha says, you try to make yourself sensitive to the whole body and then try to breathe in a way that gives rise to feelings of ease.

So that’s what you experiment with as you meditate — sometimes feelings of ease, sometimes feelings of more energy, depending on the body needs. Learn how to read the needs of your body, and see the extent to which you can fulfill those needs by the way you breathe. Sometimes you want good deep breathing, especially when you’re tired: good long deep in-breaths, less emphasis on the out-breath, again and again and again. That will help energize the body. In the other direction, if you find yourself tense, you may need to relax, so try a short in-breath and a long relaxed out-breath. Think of the out-breath carrying away all the tension in the body. And then try to maintain that sense of ease."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Even Shame Can Be Skillful"

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