When you're at ease with the breath, when you feel comfortable with yourbreath, you've got a good foundation where you can take your stance.

"The breath is always here. When you’re at ease with your breath, when you feel comfortable with your breath, you’ve got a good foundation. That’s where you can take your stance. Then when you respond to things, you’re coming from a solid position. Your response is more precise, more on target. So try to practice keep coming back to the breath, back to the breath because this is a foundation you’ve got to build."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Taking a Stance" (Meditations3)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Breathe in a way that feels refreshing, soothing and comfortable to find a deep and lasting happiness

"So spend some time right here. Breathe in, breathe out, in a way that feels refreshing, that feels soothing, that feels comfortable — whatever the body needs right now, whatever the mind needs right now. Give it some good breathing. That way, you’ll be able to find the peace that comes when you’re not constantly being pulled into paying attention outside. And from that peace comes a deep and lasting happiness." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Paying Attention Inside"
Read more

The work becomes something you can easily keep on doing, because you feel refreshed in doing your work.

"Try to be as alert as possible to how the breathing feels. Try to make it feel refreshing. This way the work becomes something you can easily keep on doing, because you feel refreshed in doing your work. Sitting here, it feels good breathing in, feels good breathing out. Ordinarily large areas of the body are starved for breathing energy, so give them a chance to drink it in, to bathe in it. Think of the energy going to the different parts of the body — “Who wants this breath? Who wants the next one?” — until you’ve got the whole body nourished. If it feels good, do it again. Next time around try to be even more perceptive as to what’s going on, what’s needed where." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Generating Power" (Meditations2)
Read more

You can focus on the tip of the nose, the base of the throat, the middle of the chest, just above the navel — anyplace where you can clearly notice now the breath is coming in, now it’s going out. You breathe with a sense of refreshment.

"As we meditate, we’re trying to master a skill. In the beginning, the skill is the skill of concentration: getting the mind to stay with one object — like the breath. You think about the breath and then you notice when it’s coming in, when it’s going out, and you evaluate it: Is it comfortable? What kind of breathing would be comfortable right now? And you also evaluate your focus: Where’s a good place to focus? You can focus on the tip of the nose, the base of the throat, the middle of the chest, just above the navel — anyplace where you can clearly notice now the breath is coming in, now it’s going out. You breathe with a sense of refreshment." ~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Skill of Happiness"
Read more