Comparing our attitudes to the breath to those of the brahmavihāras

Question: In the teachings called The Basics, you talk about the possibility of comparing our attitudes to the breath to those of the brahmavihāras. The tensions that I feel in my body have developed so that in the course of my practice they now occupy principally only one part of the body. So in reciting the names of the brahmavihāras like a mantra, I find that I can address myself a bit to both sides. That permits me to better stay in contact with this difference between the two sides of the body. Is it possible that a chant that you recite internally is one of the tools you can use in meditation? And is it wise to choose a tool specifically for the difficulty you’re encountering? If so, could you please give me some examples?

Thanissaro Bhikkhu: There are times when chanting a particular word will help, and this will vary from person to person. But when I talked about using the brahmavihāras or comparing them to your approach to the breath, I was thinking not only of the names of the brahmavihāras, but also of the actual attitudes. For example, goodwill [mettā] for the breath means that you wish your breath well. For the parts of the body where the breath doesn’t flow well or where there are pains, you try to have compassion. For the areas that are going well, you have empathetic joy. And if you find that there are some parts of the body that don’t respond to your efforts, you should have some equanimity for them.

For example, when I started out meditating, I found out that there was a very hard area around my heart. The more I tried to penetrate it with the breath, the more it resisted. So I worked around it and left it alone for the time being. It was almost as if it was testing me and it didn’t trust me to treat it well. I showed that I had lots of compassion for the other parts around it, and then one day it suddenly opened up. It was very tender inside. So equanimity doesn’t mean that you accept the fact that a part of the body will be unresponsive forever. The proper attitude is: “Save that for the time being. I can’t do anything about this right now. Meanwhile, I can focus on other areas of the body or other areas of the practice that are more responsive.”

~ "Facing Aging, Illness, & Death: The Central Teaching of the Buddha"

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