Try to develop a sense of a center where you feel at ease, where you feel solid. It’s important to be able to relax around the breath in the present moment, to get a sense of ease, well-being, a sense of being nourished and healed by the breath.

"So it’s important that you have a good, solid place to stay right here in the present moment. You’re not running off into some corner and hiding out from things. You’re just staying right here in the present moment, trying to develop a sense of a center where you feel at ease, where you feel solid. Then you can look at things for what they are without feeling threatened by them.

So it’s important to be able to relax around the breath in the present moment, to get a sense of ease, well-being, a sense of being nourished and healed by the breath. But it’s also important to learn how to use that new center you’ve developed, to see even deeper into the way the mind causes itself unnecessary stress and suffering, because that act of seeing leads to where the real freedom lies."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Basic Breath, Basic Insight"

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