The ideas of breathing with the energy of the breath and breathing with the entire body

Question: Could you go into more detail on the ideas of breathing with the energy of the breath and breathing with the entire body?

Thanissaro Bhikkhu: The flow of energy here refers to any sense of energy you may have in the body. Some energies are still, some move, some are trying to move but are blocked: Those are the ones you work with. We use the word “breath” because these energies are connected with your breathing. So when you’re breathing with your whole body, it’s not a matter of air coming in and out, it’s simply the energy flowing in and out of the body. This is something that’s already there in the body. It’s simply a matter of becoming more and more sensitive to it. And then once you get a sense that these sensations really are energy, and not solid or heavy, then you find that you can move the energy around more comfortably.

There is also an energy that exists around the body. If you get sensitive to that, then you can make use of that as well, thinking of it coming in any part of the body where there’s pain. For example, if you have pain in your back, think of the energy just outside of the back entering there. Now, in the beginning, you may not be sensitive to these energies, and this is when you have to use a little bit of visualization to help remind yourself that these things are possible. Sometimes that visualization will actually help with the flow.

~ "The Karma of Mindfulness: The Buddha's Teachings on Sati and Kamma"

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