The technique we’re teaching here is basically designed to get the mind energized through the processes of bodily and mental fabrication and then get it to calm down with a sense of ease.

Question: If I correctly understood your teaching this morning, the breath should be a pleasant flow, with no holding or pressing, etc. In yoga practice, there is kapalbhati breathing and alternate-nostril breathing, where we hold the breath for 16, 20, or even more counts, which is not always pleasant. How is this breathing technique related to meditative breathing?

Thanissaro Bhikkhu: The technique we’re teaching here is basically designed to get the mind energized through the processes of bodily and mental fabrication and then get it to calm down with a sense of ease. In other words, the main emphasis is on the effect on the mind. We do it as a means for giving rise to insight and tranquility together.

As for the yoga technique, that’s mainly for the sake of bodily health. But you can also use the Ajaan Lee technique for bodily health as well. He himself discovered this technique after he had had a heart attack deep in the forest, and he was able to recover from the heart attack and walk many miles out of the forest after practicing it. I myself used this technique to counteract the pains of malaria and to overcome my migraines. I used to have migraines very frequently, and I found that if I breathed in as much as I could, expanding the stomach as far as I could, it was uncomfortable, but it got me out of an unhealthy breathing cycle. So it is okay to use this technique for health purposes, too.

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

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